A Dark Key to Bright Places
by Key41
Summary: Chosen by a weapon of power Marco Diaz is eager to prove himself a hero throughout worlds. For Janna Ordonia the offer of arcane secrets is more than worth assisting her favorite stooge. And for Star Butterfly there are secrets buried in her family's history that may lead to the discovery of foes unknown, waiting among worlds inaccessible until now. Same story, new summary.
1. Chapter 1

**A Dark Key to Bright Places**

 **Disclaimer: Trust me I don't own the rights to any of the involved properties found in this story. They all belong to either Disney or Square Enix. I fear the mouse too much to tread on his toes.**

 **Chapter 1**

 _"Where … where am I? Who am I? Wait.. yes I remember. I… wish I didn't. They're all gone. Master, Mickey…. Ortensia." Vision returning to tired eyes took in their surroundings._

 _Dark water stretched in every direction. Moonlight shone from above and he knew where he was._

 _"If I'm awake then the darkness has receded. How long has it been? How many worlds fell? I need answers. I have to find a new wielder for the key. The door may be shut now but it needs to be locked."_

 _In the inky waters of a darkened realm, a large golden key shaped blade shimmered before becoming a ball of light. Bobbing to and fro momentarily the orb then burst into the sky above and vanished into the unending night of the realm._

Xxxx

The first day of his freshmen year had been something of a disappointment. Marco Ubaldo Diaz was honestly frustrated with himself. He had decided that going into his freshmen year he would try and break the image of the "safe kid". Instead his innate perception and compassion had only managed to further that image. Stopping Hope from slipping on a freshly mopped floor, producing a band-aid from his backpack for a scrape Ferguson managed to procure, and then topping it off by confusing red paint with blood and attempting to carry Justin to the nurse's office. The blonde boy had been very amused with the whole thing and laughed it off, so at least he was cool about it. Unfortunately the whole school had seen and had also laughed. Good humored or not it was certainly mortifying.

Now making himself ready for bed, Marco was attempting to forget the day's events and put it behind him.

 _"It's not like I want to constantly worry about everything but it just feels like that if I don't nobody else will. At least not at my school. Everyone else is so carefree about everything, I wish I could be that way. Or at least appreciated that I'm just trying to help."_ A sigh slipped his lips and turning the lights off Marco made his way to his bed.

Glancing out his window a brief flash caught his eye. Focusing on it, Marco saw a single star shoot across the night sky. A weary smile passed across his face as Marco laid down for the night.

 _"Like the universe is giving me a consolation prize. Well I wish that I could prove that I'm not just the "Safe kid". That's my wish."_ With a yawn and heavy eye lids Marco slipped into embrace of his dreams.

His wish had not gone unnoticed.

Xxxx

Falling, falling into a pit with no bottom. Yet with his mind in a fog, Marco wasn't afraid. It was almost peaceful. Then the speed of his fall lessened and a shining, red, stained glass floor appeared beneath him. With his descent slowing to a stop Marco let his feet touch down.

The floor he stood on had seven silhouettes circled by hearts ringing around the circular floor. In the center of those silhouettes was a simple crown. Blinking for a moment Marco took this all in with a dazed expression.

"What an odd dream." Marco's thoughts were cut short as a voice spoke out from the darkness around him.

"So much to do and I'm afraid that I don't have much time. A great journey lies ahead of you but don't be afraid. The door is shut. Now step forward." Marco, unsure of what was going on, decided to roll with his newfound circumstances. Stepping into the center of the floor, the voice spoke up once more.

"Well it's good to see you can listen. Power sleeps within you. If you give it form. It will give you strength." Three stone daises rose around Marco and upon each a different object appeared. On one a sword, the next held a shield, and on the last stood a rod.

"Choose well. The power of a warrior, invincible courage, a sword of terrible destruction. The power of the guardian, kindness to aid friends, a shield to repel all. The power of the mystic, inner strength, a staff of wonder and ruin." Looking at the choices presented to him Marco pondered on his decision.

 _"I want the sword, but the shield ….. can I help my friends without it?"_ Seeing into his mind, the voice called out.

"The choice is yours. Not theirs; and how one wields their strength is not dependent on the form by which it takes." Marco closed his eyes for a moment, if this choice was for him then it wasn't selfish to choose what he wanted. Right?

Walking up to the sword Marco reached forth and grasped the hilt. It was a decent size and its hilt was just long enough to allow both of his hands purchase. Holding it aloft Marco gave a few swings to better get a feel for its weight and balance.

"Your path is set, now what will you give up in exchange?" This was by far the easier choice to make. Moving over to the rod Marco held it in his hand and gave a small sigh. The description had made it seem like magic, to turn that down was just such a waste in his mind. But he couldn't abandon the shield, couldn't abandon that path.

"Hehehe no need to look so down, giving up the rod does not deny you from the wonders of magic. Just don't expect to be a grand sorcerer any time soon." With that reassurance given Marco was made all the more confident in his decision. Lifting the rod it vanished from his grasp.

"You've chosen the path of the warrior and you've given up the power of the mystic." As the voice spoke the daises cracked and shuddered before sinking into the floor.

"You'll need this power to protect yourself and others. There will be times when you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong and the darkness will not have a hold on you." From the spots left vacant by the missing daises shadows grew and small creatures surfaced from them. Hunched over with antennae, squishy looking bodies, hands ending in sharp talons, and eyes glowing brightly; the creature's very presence gave off a malign feeling.

Their intentions were made all the clearer when one lunged for Marco.

"Woah!" Its swipe went wide as Marco leant back. His grip on the sword tightened and he lashed out at the creature in retaliation. The blade sung out as it came up in an arc. The creature fell back, a large gash in its face. But it continued its attack undaunted. Half blind it swung madly but Marco kept out of its grasp before slicing into the creature. Three more strokes and the creature fell. Its split form unraveled into ink black wisps.

Its fellows had not been idle however. Collapsing into pools of shadow once more they had crept up on Marco. Leaping forth they slashed at the boy. Claws sliced through cloth and left red lines on Marco's back. Rolling forward and turning on heel Marco swept his blade through the air. Catching one of the little beasts mid lunge with the biting edge of the sword. The little monster was slapped out of the air bouncing off the ground. Marco wasn't going to let it have another chance. Two swings and a hefty downwards thrust saw the creature destroyed. Once more inky wisps flittered free. This time however green orbs burst forth as well. Before truly comprehending them, they wrapped themselves around him and upon touching Marco he felt the pain in his back lessen.

The final beast appeared to have abandoned any attempt at subtlety and was swiping haphazardly in frenzy. Marco leapt back before watching carefully for an opening to go on the offensive. A moment later he was given the opportunity when the beast overextended its reach. Twisting to the side Marco capitalized on the mistake and blade met dark beast. A horizontal sweep to the head, off balance. A downward slash left it reeling. Finally a decisive thrust saw Marco victorious. Ink wisps and green orbs both popping into existence. Swirling around Marco and then sinking into his person, all pain from his back vanished instantly.

"Well done, it's good to see you can perform under pressure. This may go better than I thought. I have some questions for you. But let's go to a more pleasant locale." The floor under Marco's feet cracked and suddenly shattered. Marco's screams were heard only by the void as he fell.

Xxxx

The light of day hit Marco's eyes with all the gentleness of a brick to the face. Shielding his eyes, he groaned at the blinding pain. After a minute or two of some choice words muttered under his breath and rubbing his eyes, Marco was able to take in his surroundings.

Looking around Marco found himself in his school. More specifically the courtyard between the buildings. Nearby Marco saw three familiar faces underneath the large tree that sat at the courtyard's center. Alfonso, Ferguson, and Janna appeared to be relaxing underneath the tree's branches. Waving at the three Marco walked over to see what exactly was going on. First he approached Ferguson.

Ferguson was playing a handheld video game of some kind but looked up at Marco when he noticed him.

"Hey Marco got a question for you. Out of these three what are you more afraid of? Getting old, being different, or being indecisive?" Marco didn't have to really ponder this to any length.

"Come on Ferg. You know I hate feeling like the odd man out. Being the "Safe kid" kinda sucks." Ferguson nodded but looked a little uncertain.

"Is being different really that awful though? Well anyway around Alfonso and Janna had questions for you too." Ferguson turned back to his game and Marco looked towards his other two peers.

Deciding to spare his sanity a moment longer he went to speak with Alfonso next. The wiry boy was looking through a textbook when Marco came over. But once he noticed Marco he bookmarked his place and turned to his friend.

"Marco! Good timing I was hoping you could help me out. If you had to pick out of the three choices what do you want out of life? To see rare sights, broaden your horizons, or to be strong?"

This wasn't as obvious an answer as the last had been. Marco wanted all of those things. Choosing one wasn't so simple. Working them over in his head for a while Marco made his decision. Being honest with himself, Marco acknowledged that he desperately wanted an adventure. A way to prove to himself, if no one else, that he wasn't as lame as he felt at times. He wouldn't find that in Echo Creek. Which meant of the three, his decision would have to be…

"To see rare sights. If I had to pick just one." Alfonso smiled at him, pushing his glasses up his nose a bit.

"You know that does sound pretty cool. Don't know if it's for me but you should do what makes you happy. Oh Janna wanted to talk to you too." The resultant groan from Marco saw Alfonso chuckling at his friend's misfortune.

Looking towards the beanie clad stalker, Marco noticed the smirk that crept up one side of her mouth as she played with her phone. That was certainly not a sign to take comfort in. His trepidation did not go unnoticed.

"Relax Marco, I don't bite… hard…. much. Hehehe." Marco walked forward cautiously, keeping an eye on the girl's hands as he did.

"What do you want Janna?" Marco was eyeing the girl the same way someone might watch a deadly snake. Doing his best to keep himself out of striking distance and in control. Sadly for him, Janna was a wily creature, too smooth to be so easily evaded.

"I was hoping you could answer a question for me. Well one of two, your pick on which. Either answer a multiple choice ooooor we could decide which baby photo you think Jackie would like the best." Flipping her phone, the screen showed a much smaller Marco sleeping in his birthday suit.

Face flushing scarlet, Marco made a desperate grab for the phone. Janna was an old hand at this song and dance though. Her hand jerked the phone out of reach as she hovered her thumb over the send button.

"Uh uh u~h! Easy there, we wouldn't want her to see the wrong pic would we?" Her face split with the grin of the cat who caught the canary. Marco held himself back and took a deep breath before looking dead pan at his tormenter.

"Fine, what multiple choice am I answering?" Janna looked almost disappointed that he wasn't trying harder to get the phone. She shrugged it off though in lieu of asking her question.

"Alright, so I need to know which of these is the most important to you. Being the best, friends, or your prized possessions?" Marco stared hard at Janna.

"And why exactly do you want to know?" Janna's grin came back with a vengeance.

"Oh Marco, don't ask questions you don't want the answer to." Marco let his exasperation known with a deep groan.

Honestly the question was probably the easiest of the three for Marco. He just didn't like giving Janna of all people that kind of ammo. Sucking it up Marco made to answer this possible trap.

"My friends are far more important than any of my stuff or even being the best." Janna rolled her eyes but the smile she wore was a teensy bit more genuine.

"You're such a dork." Returning to her phone, the scene around Marco froze. The voice, silent since coming to this place, spoke up once more.

"A fear of being different or perhaps of being ridiculed, a desire to see the rare and fantastic, and a deep attachment to those you care for. Do not let your fear rule you, your need to prove yourself may be your undoing. But your dream and attachments will keep you grounded. Keep them in mind when you find yourself in over your head. They help to steer you towards wiser choices. Now come, I'm running out of time like this." Darkness enveloped Marco once more and his vision faded to black.

Xxx

When his eyesight returned, Marco found himself back on the stained glass platform. Just ahead he could see a light, shining from above. Stepping forward he tried to discern where it was coming from.

"Careful; the closer you get to the light, the greater the shadow you will cast." Turning his head, Marco could see his own shadow stretching to the edge of the glass. With a mind of its own, it turned its head and rose off the ground.

With eyes wide in shock and horror, Marco leapt back. All the while grasping desperately for a sword that was no longer there.

"In those shadows the darkness will hide and fester, waiting to strike you down." Marco's shadow stood to its full height, its features warped as it did so.

Towering over Marco, the entity's chest completely hollowed. A great heart-shaped hole formed in its chest. Its hair grew and clumped, becoming thick tendrils that proceeded to wrap around the lower half of its face. Arms bulged with muscles and shoulders widened. Finally the creature's feet lengthened before crinkling at the end.

Gazing at Marco the giant swung down its fist, intent on flattening the boy. Marco rolled to the side, still panicking over his lack of weapon.

"But don't be afraid. You're not alone. You hold the key that bars the darkness." With a brief flash of light and a sound like chiming glass, a large, odd blade, found itself in Marco's hand.

The blade itself was in the shape of a golden key, which sat atop a silver cross guard encircling itself around a dark handle. Lastly at the very base of the hilt was a golden chain that ended in a golden pendent. Three circles made up its shape with two of them being smaller and sitting on top of the larger one.

Marco was able to take this in for but a moment before being forced to dodge once more as a dark fist crashed into the spot he just occupied. This time the fist sunk into the floor and a dark pool flooded up around it. Four familiar little beasties surfaced from the pool to greet Marco.

As on went to slip into the shadows, Marco dashed forward and slammed the blade down. He couldn't have these things trying to sneak up on him, while trying to dodge the giant. With a waver and a pop the creature dispersed into darkness and green orbs.

 _"Woah! Just one hit! What is this?"_ The awe he held for his new weapon was short lived. The downed beast's companions were already scurrying forth to catch him off guard.

Two tried coming from his side while the third pounced head on towards Marco. Acting off his years of martial arts training and a touch of instinct, Marco gripped the hilt with both hands. Pivoting sharply he swung the key at the airborne creature and allowed his momentum to carry his facing towards the other two. The more forward of the two was met with the swing and then there was one.

The last of the lot was far more cautious than its fallen brethren. Hopping back, it quickly sunk into the shadows. Watching the creature as it slunk around Marco felt as though he were forgetting something. A sense of foreboding dawned on Marco and a sudden force to his back reminded him of the giant.

Rolling forwards with the blow, Marco turned to face the behemoth intent on flattening him. As it turned out it had not actually hit him but was creating spheres of pulsing dark energy and sending them flying after him. Two more spheres were already following after Marco and the boy found himself running hard to keep from their reach. His feet did not fail him and the spheres crashed behind him as he circled the giant.

Having enough of running, Marco charged at the giant's legs. A pair of slashes to the calves of entity as Marco ran between them failed to bring the desired reaction. The giant didn't so much as flinch when the blows impacted.

Meanwhile the lurking critter made its presence known. Jolting out from the shadows, Marco saw the creature too late. Three red lines found their place on Marco's side.

The action proved the little beast's undoing. Marco twisted quickly and drove the key straight through the nuisance. Wisps of shadow and green orbs burst everywhere. The verdant balls circled Marco for a moment before quickly negating the damage he'd taken a moment before.

The giant chose that moment to join the fray once more, a massive fist crashing down. Marco saw the appendage headed his way and dove out of the way. Having already seen this, Marco knew what to expect when the pool of darkness spread from the grounded fist. Dashing forwards Marco unleashed a flurry of blows onto the hand. Attempting to stop the spawn of even more of the smaller creatures.

This brought about the result that Marco had hoped for with his previous offensive against the giant's legs. With a pained groan the giant withdrew its fist. The pool disappeared without having created any new foes. The giant examined its now damaged hand and a deep rumble filled the air. Its eyes shined with rage as it looked down at Marco.

Pulsing dark spheres once more formed in the giant's palms. This time however six spheres flew out at break neck speed, Marco was forced to dive out of the way repeatedly in order to keep from being hit. The speed was too much however and after the fourth one the final two slammed into Marco, tossing him across the platform.

Rolling to a stop, Marco hopped to his feet as quick as he could. The giant had wound its fist back once more to try and drive it into the hoodie clad boy once more. While the spheres may have been too much, tired or not, the swing was too slow to nail Marco. His weariness was starting to show however, his effort to evade the giant's blow saw him stumbling onto his rear. Two of the smaller aberrations were able to spawn from the resulting pool of darkness before Marco was able to get up.

Pushing through his pain, Marco moved to engage the two before they could escape. The little monsters were caught off guard and quickly popped. Green orbs flooded over Marco's form bringing sweet relief. Once more the giant's implanted fist was subjected to a barrage of hits. This time instead of simply withdrawing its hand the giant jerked its arm towards Marco sending him sprawling. While Marco tried to catch his breath, the giant stumbled back and looked to be on its last legs.

Marco looked up to see his foe looking worst for wear. Sadly he wasn't in the greatest shape either. With labored breaths and shaking legs, Marco rose to face the massive entity.

"Hmm maybe this was too much for you. I wasn't expecting you to win, I'm honestly impressed you made it this far. Let me give you a hand. A reward for going beyond my expectations." With those cryptic words, a scene played in Marco's mind.

Holding the key out to his side, Marco let the scene in his mind play out. A warmth flooded down his arm and into the weapon. Aiming carefully he pulled his arm across himself and let loose the key. Sent flying, the key spun end over end, slicing its way up the giant's arm, making its way through the beast's head, before coming back the way it came and slapping into Marco's hand.

Knees collapsing to the ground, the giant's head leaned back, and its bright eyes stared into the void. With a shuddering sigh the beast dispersed into the darkness that made up its form.

With a grin on his lips Marco fell to his butt, taking in great gasps of air.

"Excellent, we'll make a guardian out of you yet. Stay strong Marco Diaz. You're adventure will begin soon. Rest well."

And with that Marco's eyes closed and he fell into a deep sleep.

Xxxx

Eyes fluttering open, Marco yawned in response to the morning air. Sitting up he got out of bed and made his way to complete his morning routine. Pondering all the while on the strange dream.

 _"It felt so real. Heck it still feels so real. Like I could hold my arm out and that key would be.."_ Acting on those thoughts, Marco's brain almost shut down. With a small flash of light and a sound like chiming glass, appeared the very key he had just been thinking of.

So many adventures would follow that one moment and Marco could never have known what kind of ripples summoning that key, would cause. Yet in worlds far and near others took notice.

Xxx

In a cola bottle shaped mountain made of chocolate a small girl in a mint green hoodie sat next to a car made of candy. Something in her twitched and a wave of energy flooded into her. Looking around she let a grin spread over her face, something big was coming. She could feel it, and she couldn't wait.

"I'll win the next race for sure."

Xxx

In a tower hidden in a cove a young woman with extraordinarily long blond hair was trying to find just one more spot to paint on the walls. Just as she thought she had a spot she felt something burn within her. Looking around she was unsure of what she felt. This warmth was exciting but left her uncertain. Turning to a small green lizard, the girl looked questioningly to it.

"Pascal, did you feel that?"

Xxx

In a kingdom by the sea a woman with silvery blonde hair sat in her room looking at a crown. Sighing she put it to the side, when a feeling of dread rushed through her. Glancing all around her room, she almost panicked but upon feeling the temperature drop, calmed herself.

"Great as if I didn't have enough problems with the upcoming coronation."

Xxx

In a valley, in the dead of night, a young girl was playing in the mud with otherworldly but happy creatures. Nearby a striking woman with dark horns watched carefully. Suddenly the young girl stopped playing and looked to the stars. A feeling of hope flooded the girl and she grinned through her mud caked face. The woman nearby cocked an eyebrow in curiosity.

"And what pray tell has you grinning at the stars?" The girl grinned even more brightly up at the woman.

"Just a feeling fairy godmother."

Xxx

In a castle overlooking a great loch, there was red-headed, curly haired, young woman. Standing in the yard with arrow nocked she drew her bow. The target at its end was already littered with its mates centered in every ring that had been aimed for. Not a one missing its mark. Just as she was about to loose, a wave of oppression fell over her, filling her with anxiety. The arrow loosed and struck the stone wall behind the target. The girl wasn't sure if she was more put out with the feeling or the fact that she missed.

"Wha the devil was that?"

Xxx

On a beach with the waves rolling in, another young woman stood next to an elderly lady. Both going through the motions of a dance. Dark curly hair and caramel skin stopped abruptly and stepped towards the water. A feeling like the warm summer wind had taken grip of her. A dream of forbidden sights beckoned. An elderly hand placed on her shoulder stopped her, aged eyes looking in askance.

"Don't worry grandma, I haven't forgotten all about the water yet."

Xxx

In a towering castle above even the clouds, a young blonde girl jolted awake. Rolling out of bed she took an attack stance ready for anything. Blood pumping she felt the rush of taming a warnicorn or defeating a dozen monsters flooding through her. A grin spread across her heart marked cheeks and sparkles lit her eyes, she was practically bouncing with excitement.

"I'm so excited! I'm not even sure why but I can't wait to go on an adventure!"

Xxx

In a world almost forgotten, one ancient eye cracked open. Its fellow, lost ages ago, was covered by an eyepatch. Its owner's white beard hid a grin beneath and equally long white hair shook with mirth. Which quickly turned to full on howling laughter. Slowly rising up from a bed the old man looked to the twin purple weapons nearby.

"It's been so long but things are finally about to get shook up again."

Xxx

 **A/N: Hi there ladies and gentlemen! So after having fallen in love with this show I had this idea in my head that just wouldn't leave me alone. Well two ideas this one and a TWEWY mix up with Janna and Marco being players. Might still do that one later but anyways, this story uses a large amount of content from Kingdom Hearts. Now I am taking creative liberty with a good deal as far as that series goes. A lot of that series is very poetic in nature but when you really look at it, things seem off. Getting back on topic, I will not be using any worlds that the series has used so far. There is one exception to this that will feature in Kingdom Hearts 3 but I'm still gonna use it in this story. I'll make a list on my profile of worlds that I will likely have Marco, and eventually other members of the crew, travel to. If you have any suggestions then I'm open to ideas, my only rules are that they must be produced/distributed by either Disney or Square Enix and cannot have been featured in any Kingdom Hearts games.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A Dark Key to Bright Places**

 **Disclaimer: Trust me I don't own the rights to any of the involved properties found in this story. They all belong to either Disney or Square Enix. I fear the mouse too much to tread on his toes.**

 **Chapter 2**

 _"Put that away fool!"_ With a shrill squeak Marco dropped the key, which vanished with a small flash. Head darting this way and that he searched for the source of the voice. Then recognition dawned on him, it was the same voice from the dream.

 _"A keyblade will draw heartless like moths to a flame. Hopefully that wasn't enough to bring them straight to our doorstep."_ With every word from the enigmatic voice, Marco was being worked into a frenzy. Holding his head, he desperately searched for any evidence of someone in his room.

"This can't be happening. I'm only fourteen, I can't be going crazy. Maybe I'm just hallucinating. Yeah that's it, Janna must've put something in my food yesterday. Oh ha ha ha Janna, very funny. Haha haha haa." His laughter had turned manic as he began to ramble, Marco was clearly not in the best of places.

 _"Kid… Kid!... MARCO!"_ The shout rang in his skull and saw Marco freezing stock still.

 _"Relax boy, take a deep breath. You're not going crazy and nobody slipped you anything. Listen just don't try and summon the keyblade again. We'll talk tonight. For now I'm gonna take a nap. Go to school, put this out of your mind, and stop acting like a looney. I don't want to have to help you break out of a funny farm so soon after naming you my successor."_ Following the advice of voices in your head wasn't usually recommended but in this case, Marco decided to run with it.

Xxx

School was spent juggling maintaining the status quo and trying to forget what was coming. At least at first. After a little bit of thinking though Marco wasn't sure that this was something to be scared of.

 _"This could be really cool. I mean if this is real then I can do everything that I did in the dream last night."_ Looking down at his hand, Marco was sorely tempted to reach for the weapon he now knew as the keyblade. But the voice's warning was still fresh.

 _"Heartless huh? Are those what those shadow creatures were?"_ Ultimately Marco decided to wait until later that night. The remainder of his school day was spent almost in a state of auto pilot. Marco barely noticed when he passed up an invitation to play a new game with Ferg and Alfonso.

Even when he had gotten home the whole time he was looking forward to his dreams. His parents were not so blind as to not notice their preoccupied child. But any questions they had were brushed off with Marco just stating that he was tired.

Blazing through his homework, prepping for bed, and waiting for the sounds of his mother's snores; Marco was so anxious to find out what was going on.

"Hello? Are you there voice?" Marco whispered, standing in the dark in the middle of his room.

 _"Oook so we're gonna stop that right there. You can call me Master Oswald. Also you really don't have to talk out loud. I'm in your head. Just think what you want to say. You're seriously bound and determined to make yourself look nuts aren't you?"_ Marco's cheeks tinged with a bit of redness in embarrassment.

 _"Sorry. I just have so many questions that I want to ask you. I've been thinking about this all day."_ Marco was grinning in excitement, pacing around his room.

 _"Yeah trust me I know. It was hard to get much sleep with your mind going at full tilt most of the day. Anyways if you want answers, calm your rear down, get into bed, and go to sleep."_ Marco moved to follow the order but didn't think he'd be nodding off any time soon.

 _"I don't think that I can just go to sleep so easily. I'm just too wound up. Can't you answer some of my questions?"_ An aggravated sigh filtered out from Oswald.

 _"Uggh seriously, ok patience was Mickey's thing not mine. Lights out kiddo!"_ With that, something hit Marco and his eyes drooped instantly. A yawn and a turn of his head saw Marco welcoming the gift of the sandman.

Xxx

Eyes blinking Marco found himself in his school's courtyard.

"You really should have tried to just go to sleep on your own. Using magic like I just did is gonna make you groggy all day tomorrow."

Looking around, Marco sought out the source of the voice. He was beginning to be a little put out to still be talking to air and then to be made out to be a nut, by the very voice in his head. Like nailing someone with a water balloon and then mocking them for being wet.

"Are we gonna keep talking like this? Cuz this is getting old. It's kind of hard to not look like a crazy person when the person I'm trying to have a conversation with is pulling off a ventriloquist act. Can't we just talk face to face?" A sharp rap to one of his shins saw Marco hopping up and down, grasping his leg in pain.

"Well now we can talk face to face. That hit feel real enough for you? Turn around." Releasing his bruised his shin, Marco turned around to lay his eyes on the source of all this wackiness.

Standing at maybe three feet tall, not including his ears, was an anthropomorphic rabbit. A black trench coat with silver chains covered much of his person. Dark eyes were set in a mask of white, black fur surrounding said mask. Lastly what looked like a keyblade was held in rabbit's right hand.

An oddly shaped weapon, it was almost more staff than blade. A white cylinder made up most of its length, turning grey and then black with neon blue spiraling, as it reached the tip of the weapon. At its head was a black crook, with a bright neon blue interior. Held at its center was a black and blue star. To one side of the crook two small wings curved off, black plumage becoming more of that bright blue at the edges. Coming off the top of the head to then spiral down the entirety of the blade were streams of inky substance holding more of that same blue coloring. Wrapping their way down from the crown of the crook the two ribbons of ink danced their way around the weapon even forming a cross guard towards the base. Lastly at the base of the weapon was a small black chain that lead down to a pendent similar to Marco's. The only difference was that the larger circle was topped with what could only be rabbit ears.

Marco having taken all of this in, his brain coming up with a million and one questions, was left with only one at the forefront of his mind.

"I've been losing my mind for the past twenty four hours because of a bunny?"

 **Whack**

"Ow! Hey stop hitting me!" Oswald let loose a sigh of exasperation.

"First of all it's Master Oswald. Remember it. Second I am a rabbit not a bunny. Thirdly… was that honestly the first question you wanted to ask?" Eyebrow cocked he took in the sheepish look the boy wore on his face.

"You're killing me kiddo. Now seriously let's get to it. What do you want to know?" Marco having gotten a hold of his thought process once more decided to start with the obvious.

"Who are you?" Looking to the hoodie clad boy, Oswald smiled and nodded at the boy.

"As good a place to start as any. My name is Oswald Lucky Tlaw. Keyblade Master, Guardian of the Tower of Mysteries, and son of the illustrious and powerful Master Yen Sid. Though I guess most of that wouldn't mean much to you huh?" Marco shook his head to the negative in response.

"Sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about. I mean what even is a keyblade?" Oswald crossed his arms and gave a contemplative nod.

"Yes, I suppose that's a pretty important bit. Keyblades are weapons of immense power, capable of locking or unlocking just about anything, and are magnificent conduits for magic. As a side note you can summon the blade here without fear. We're in your head, or heart as the case may be. The heartless won't be able to sense it. Only a strong heart can wield a keyblade. You can be proud of that, Marco Diaz." The boy in question puffed up a tiny bit with pride and the contemplative look he had been wearing was traded for one of joy.

"Easy there kiddo, don't go getting too big for your britches. Anyways one of the most import aspects of being a keyblade wielder is the maintenance of worlds, through the eradication of any invading darkness." Curiosity returned, Marco perked up and posed a query for the rabbit.

"So wait when you say "worlds" do you mean other planets? Like you're an alien? *Gasp* Does that mean I get to go to other planets." Some part of Marco's brain was screaming at him that this could potentially be very dangerous. It was however overruled by the combined factors of the potential for adventure and seeing far off places, combined with his overwhelming need to try and help people.

"Well yes but there's more to it than that. You see when I say worlds, I'm not talking about another planet in your universe. I'm talking about another branch of existence." Marco's head cocked to the side in perplexity. Oswald chuckled at the boy's face and continued.

"Yeah this next part threw me for a loop too when my Master first explained it to me. Easiest way to think about it is this. At the beginning of every reality is the Core. The single defining moment in which every existence came to be. All realities share this single beginning. Think of it like the trunk of a tree. Now from that trunk sprung infinite limbs, and on those limbs sprung infinite branches. Each limb is what we refer to as a "world" and the branches are what you could consider alternate realities. So while I am in fact from another planet, it's not in the sense that you were probably thinking. And yes if you choose to go through with this then you will be venturing to places that no one from your planet will have ever set foot on." Marco took all of this in with eyes wide and jaw dropped. It was a massive thing to comprehend and completely boggled his mind. While his brain attempted a reboot, Oswald continued. Now pacing back in forth as he spoke.

"Onto why I'm here. I have been out of commission for quite some time. In fact due to a very serious injury I can't even physically interact with my surroundings at the moment. Which is where you come in. Should you accept this task, then I will be training and guiding you as you take up the duties of a keyblade warrior. Protecting worlds from darkness, driving out existing infestations, and keeping watch for those mad few that seek to weaponize the hearts of peoples and their worlds." Oswald stopped pacing to look at his new potential pupil and grew a mite concerned.

Marco was twitching and looking a little …. frazzled. Oswald snapped his fingers around the boy a few times, trying to get his attention. After getting no response, Oswald raised his keyblade with a deadpan look. The hum of electrical current filled the air and with one tap Oswald broke Marco out of his stupor.

"Yowch! Why'd you shock me?"

"Oh good you're not brain dead. You weren't really responding." Oswald said nonchalantly. Marco huffed, rubbing his now stinging arm.

"Well how was I supposed to respond? I'm still not sure that I'm not just dreaming or if I really am losing my mind. Now you tell me that I'm supposed be some kind of world traveling super hero. I just started high school, I'm still scared of talking to my crush. Are you sure you got the right person?" Oswald moved to a nearby bench and sat, arms crossed.

"Positive. You have a strong heart and an inherent need to see people safe. As for your age, trust me when I say that you aren't the youngest to take up the mantle. Besides what happened to all your enthusiasm? I thought you wanted to prove you were more than just the safe kid, to see fantastic sights, and be a warrior?" Eyes downcast, Marco worried at his lip; obviously conflicted over all of this.

"Am I really the best choice though? I bet there are loads of better options out there." Oswald looked with sympathy to the boy. The question of one's worth was not unfamiliar to the rabbit.

"Kiddo I'll be honest with you. I didn't pick you. I was hiding from enemies in the keyblade to protect myself after being wounded. But it meant that my injuries went untreated. I tried to rest and hoped to recuperate. But when I woke up I was so weak that if I didn't find a heart I could retreat to then I would have become a heartless. So I let the Kingdom Key find a suitable candidate. It chose you. Out of who knows how many people, that blade chose you. So I have to believe that you are the best choice. You should too." Marco raised his head to the rabbit before looking down to his hand and reaching out.

With a burst of light and a chime, the golden weapon appeared in his palm. His gaze was light and a small smile graced his face.

"The Kingdom Key huh?" Oswald gave the weapon a look that Marco wasn't able to quite wrap his head around.

"Well one of them anyways, it's part of a set but don't worry about that." Marco hummed, his mind still elsewhere.

"And those things I fought last night; were those Heartless?" Oswald gave an affirmative nod.

"They were; or rather they were memory replicas of them. A technique keyblade masters often employ to test their students. Heartless is actually a misnomer playing off the fact that they are nothing more than hearts. A person's raw emotions, corrupted and contained by the darkness. If allowed Heartless will invade a world, attacking its occupants to turn them into even more Heartless. If they aren't stopped then Heartless will eventually work their way to the heart of a world. Once that has been consumed it becomes all but impossible to save that world. The world will eventually fall into the realm of darkness and be lost forever. This is what you would be fighting against." Marco stared down at the blade in his hand. Biting his lip, he looked up to the rabbit.

"Is there anyone else?" Oswald shook his head sadly.

"Not that I'm aware of. I believe I'm the last. I can't force you to take up this job, but if you don't then innocent people could be hurt while the Kingdom Key searches for another wielder." Marco took in a deep, slow breath before looking up to the black clad master.

"This is still a lot to take in but …. I can't turn it down. Not when people could use my help. So where do we start Master Oswald." Oswald hopped to his feet, a proud smile stretched across his face.

"Excellent! That's what I wanted to hear. First things first we need to visit the Tower of Mysteries before we can get down to business. There are some things I need to check up on and it has resources we'll need for your training. It should also be a great idea of what you'll be in for when you travel to other worlds." Jumping down from the bench, Oswald walked towards the center of the courtyard, gesturing for Marco to follow.

"Alright I'll guide you with the memory of the world we'll be going to but you'll have to be the one to get us there. Take hold of the Kingdom Key and imagine you're placing it in the keyhole of a door. Then when I give you the memory, unlock the door. Got it, kiddo?" A nod in the affirmative from his new pupil and Oswald watched on as Marco followed his instructions.

When Marco placed the key forwards, there was an odd sensation. To his eyes noting was there but the resistance coming from the end of the keyblade said otherwise. Awaiting the memory, Marco looked down to see Oswald had vanished. Oswald was quick to calm him.

"I'm still here kiddo. It's best for both of us if no one knows I'm with you. Now here's the memory." A moment later and a vision of a grand tower with multiple turrets, on a floating island, sparse foliage surrounding it.

Destination in mind, Marco unlocked the unseen door. Lines of light carved their way into the air itself and formed an open doorway. The tower itself lay on the other side. As his foot fell through the doorway, Oswald chimed in once more.

"Oh and mind the drop." Marco blinked, even as he felt his leg tugged through.

"Drop?" Marco's unfortunate query was answered just a moment later.

Falling with great speed, Marco was cut off guard for a moment. Marco found himself in an enormous tunnel, debris and floating items scattered throughout. Blinking his eyes to adjust to the sensation of falling, the reality of the situation hit him. Leaving Marco with really only one option.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" At least until Oswald's cackling cut through in his head. Realizing he'd been duped Marco's eye began twitching like mad.

"Are you kidding me! You knew this would happen didn't you?!" The rabbit worked to choke back his laughter as he tried to answer Marco.

"Hahahahaha honestly I didn't remember until the last moment. But it's fine. Use the keyblade to guide yourself like a rudder and smash anything that you can't avoid. It's not difficult." Marco doubted those words.

"I feel as though you're making this out to be easier than it is. Will going to different worlds always be like this?" So saying he managed to direct himself away from oncoming debris. A stray piece of rubble a little too close was quickly smashed out of the way via keyblade.

"No they won't all be this way. Some will be worse, hehehe. The first time you go to a new world it will be like this. At least for sleeping worlds. Be thankful that there are enchantments around the Tower to keep the drop safe from darkness. Otherwise you'd be too busy to complain." Marco grumbled about wacky rabbits but returned to focusing on the drop.

After about two minutes of smashing and evading debris, Marco spotted a large opening ahead. In its center was the Tower of Mysteries.

Bracing for impact as he approached the opening, Marco felt a sudden deceleration. An abrupt stop and earth beneath his feet left Marco stumbling for a moment before the small hand of Oswald grabbed the back of his hoodie. Once steadied, Oswald let go to move towards the great Tower now before them.

The ancient domicile was entirely too silent for his liking.

 _'Not like it was ever the liveliest. But still; even after Mickey and I left there was always something about the place that felt alive. Some experiment humming, smoke rising from one of the chimneys, heck I can't even hear any of the cleaning enchantments running. Mickey wasn't Master Yen Sid but he was a powerful sorcerer. How long have I been gone?'_ Lost in his reminiscing, Oswald failed to notice Marco walking up beside him.

"So you mentioned this place. The Tower of Mysteries right? What is this place exactly?" Shaking out of his solemn moment, Oswald looked up to the boy at his side.

"This was the domain of my old Master, the man that raised me, Keyblade Master Yen Sid. One of the greatest Keyblade Masters to ever live. He was one of, if not the greatest sorcerers of his time. The old man seemed to know just about everything about everything. Luckily for us he also kept records of all that knowledge. Now come on let's get inside." So saying, Oswald walked up to the entrance with Marco behind.

Xxx

Walking inside the two traveled through a small corridor for a moment. Exiting the corridor the two came out into a massive, marble hall. Several dozen, two story tall columns lead up to a vaulted ceiling. Every inch of wall space was occupied by books. Bookcases lined the walls, wrapped around the columns, and farther down even found their place on the side of great winding staircases. Marco took it all in gaping like fish. Oswald recognized that face of awe and wonder. Long ago he had shared that very same look. But it had been even more wonderful then, with dozens of examples of magic working everywhere.

 _'I really need to see how long I've been gone. I'll grab the initiate's set of spells and let Marco go over them. That'll give me some time to check on things.'_ Turning back to Marco, he found the boy still marveling over their surroundings.

"Yeah; it's something isn't it?" Marco's head idly bobbed while gawking. Looking to the smaller Keyblade Master he had to voice some of his curiosity.

"How? I mean the tower doesn't look anywhere near big enough for …. I mean just look at it!" Oswald took this moment to give a cheeky grin before waving both his hands.

As his hands moved they left a trail of floating ice in their wake. Flames curled around the ice without melting it. The ice spelled together to form one word.

Magic.

Marco's eyes narrowed at the word and the grinning Oswald. Raising his hand to object, he paused mouth still open, put his hand down, raised it once more, gained a confused look, and then dropped both it and his head in exasperation.

"I walked right into that one huh?" Oswald gave a hearty laugh at the boy's embarrassment.

"Hahaha don't worry Marco. You aren't the first to be blown away by this place. But let's get going, I want to get you started with your first spells." So saying he started walking down the hall. A moment to register their destination, and Marco hurried after the rabbit.

"Wait! Spells as in magic? I get to learn magic?!" Marco was giddy with excitement almost dancing in place. Oswald watched with amusement as they walked towards a staircase.

"Of course! I do believe I remember telling you that just because you gave up the rod doesn't mean ya can't use magic. In fact it's even more important for you to learn some spells right now then it is to learn to wield the keyblade." Marco considered that for a moment.

"Any reason why it's so important? I kinda feel like I'm missing something."

Having reached the staircase, Oswald placed his keyblade on the nearby banister. With the exception of the first step, the rest folded in on themselves creating a smooth surface. Gesturing for Marco to join him on the first step Oswald tapped the banister once more.

"Floor of spells and sorcery." The banister lit green and rails came up around the step. Slowly at first but with increasing speed the step made its ascent. After the two steadied themselves against the speed, Oswald made to answer the earlier question.

"Do you remember what I said earlier in the morning? About the keyblade attracting Heartless? Well allow me to elaborate. Keyblades are beacons that dispel darkness with their mere presence. That beacon is felt by any Heartless that happen to be nearby. Even a world away the Heartless can sense it. They both fear and loath keyblades and will attempt to destroy their wielder whenever found. That is why you should be very careful about summoning yours. It is also why teaching you the Initiate spells is important. You don't need to summon the keyblade to use magic. So if that stunt earlier does draw in heartless, you'll be able to get rid of them without attracting even more." Marco wore a solemn face, contemplating the information he'd been provided. A question came to mind.

"So ultimately, am I supposed to destroy all the Heartless or something?" Oswald did a double take before giving a disbelieving laugh. Turning to watch as they moved up the winding staircase, having passed several floors already, the rabbit shook his head.

"By the stars, no! That's impossible; the Heartless always have been and always will be. So long as a single person in all the realities is willing to give themselves up to the darkness then there will always be Heartless. No, you're job will be to fight them off if they come knocking. Keep out unwanted guests so to say. Occasionally you'll run into folks that think they can use the Heartless to take what they want. Those are the really bad ones. Heartless given direction are bad news." The step was beginning to decelerate as it approached its destination.

"So I just step in when a world is under attack? Doesn't that seem a little, I don't know, lazy to you?" Oswald tutted in exasperation. The step coming to a halt, one of the rails lowered; allowing the two of them off.

The floor they were on was filled with yet more books, leaving Marco to wonder how one man could possibly have so much knowledge much less write all of these. Scattered throughout the many bookshelves, Marco could see some tables and chairs. Occasionally a wall would be spared a bookshelf to present some diagram of an arcane ritual or maybe the formula of some concoction. The wooden floorboards, rugs, and warmth gave off a more homely atmosphere than the aesthetically pleasing, but cold entry hall.

Marching on with destination in mind, Oswald lectured his young pupil.

"Listen here, if that was all we did then you'd be right but there's more to it than booting some Heartless. Every time you visit a world, you'll need to use your keyblade to lock the door to that world. Do that and the only people that can get in are those with keyblades. At least not without breakin the door down. And even if someone does break it down, you'll know immediately." Their destination came into view as Oswald lead them to an antechamber, to the side of the massive library.

Four doors marked with the corresponding Roman numerals sat in a row against the back of the antechamber. Oswald moved to the first and with a tap of his keyblade, the door opened.

Following Oswald through the door, Marco found himself in what looked to be a large study. Large shelves lined three of the walls and a table set with a variety of writing supplies and instruments sat in the middle. About a quarter of the room on one side appeared to Marco to be some kind of odd racquet ball court, cut off by a large glass wall. A lone dummy sat inside.

Oswald himself continued towards one of the shelves. There were five in total, each a separate color. On one wall a red shelf sat next to its blue fellow. On the wall opposite were a yellow and a green counterpart. Lastly taking up the entire wall between them was an enormous black bookshelf.

With the exception of the black shelf, each of the shelves held a central compartment. Locked metal grating kept ancient tomes inside. Oswald went to each and removed the books inside, opening the grates with a tap of his keyblade.

Gesturing for Marco to have a seat, Oswald placed the four books on the table. Sitting down across from his student, the height difference was made clear. A snickering Marco was silenced when Oswald flexed his magic and the chair raised itself.

"Ahem, now then the four tomes you see before you are spell books that make up the Initiate's set. A group of spells that are taught to all novice keyblade wielders. The red one holds the spell of Fire, allowing the caster to launch fireballs at enemies. The blue has the spell Blizzard, with it the caster can send dense shards of ice flying through multiple Heartless. The yellow tome contains the spell Thunder, funny enough it actually calls down lightning to strike any jerks around you. Finally we have the green book of Cure, a healing spell useful for keeping you breathing." Marco's eyes had taken a disturbing look to them as he gazed hungrily at the tomes and the potential laying in front of him.

Reaching tentatively for the Thunder tome, Marco shook with anticipation. However the moment his fingers brushed the cover, the dam broke. Snatching it up, Marco opened the book and began reading with a vengeance.

"The walled off area is designed to practice spells in. The dummy in there will fix itself up if you give it a minute. Or you can practice Cure on it. I've got some things to check on but I'll send a guide to you later. Do us both a favor and stay here until it gets here okay? Don't need you getting lost in here." A noncommittal nod and some muttering was as good as Oswald was going to get. Marco was far too engrossed in his reading.

 _'Well at least he's eager.'_ Oswald left Marco to his studies and ventured back to the staircase.

Reaching the steps, Oswald tapped the banister once more.

"Floor of the Master." And off he went.

Xxx

Arriving at his destination, Oswald found himself in a room with a set of forest green doors and a few chairs.

He recalled sitting in those chairs. Waiting impatiently for Master Yen Sid to open the door. Sometimes he was in trouble, a prank or cruel word he'd said to Mickey. Sometimes the old man was in a meeting. Visiting royalty, adventuring heroes, great minds, and downtrodden souls. All looking for assistance. But the times he remembered best were when he and Mickey sat anxiously waiting for the closest thing they had to a father to wrap up his studies, grab the two boys, and venture forth with them to unknown wonders.

A lone tear escaped Oswald's eye and the dampness broke him from his reverie. With a sniff he trudged towards the door, rubbing at his eyes.

 _'I can't think about that right now, I've gotta make sure of what happened after I left.'_

Walking through the door, Oswald took in his Master's personal sanctuary. The same large wooden desk, high backed chair with light green upholstery, books of course, a grandfather clock, and a globe in the corner. It was to the clock that Oswald went first. His hand paused at the glass door to the clocks innards. Fear of what he'd find was working against him and what he knew he had to face.

Forcing his way through, he opened the time piece and pulled on one of the weights. The hands on the clock begin to spin and the numbers on its face came to life and projected themselves outwards. The numbers rolled… and rolled… and rolled. And with each second Oswald's heart dropped that much more. Finally they stopped, and Oswald could see how long it had been since he'd last been in this room.

Horror, enough to make him ill. It filled him the moment the number's registered in his brain. Thirty three seconds, twenty four minutes, two hours, four days, two weeks, three months, and the years, the digits that brought Oswald's world crashing down. One. Zero. Zero. Zero.

 _'Oh stars… a thousand…. I think .. I think I'm going to be sick.'_ Rushing to the window Oswald took in heaps of air to try and calm himself. Trying desperately to keep hold of his bowels.

Calming himself as best he could, Oswald snapped his head to the globe in the corner. Bouncing from the window to the globe, a series of taps saw the globe spin and glow. A numberless amount of golden lights found themselves dancing around the room. Oswald's hand moved the globe, causing the lights to blur seeking out Oswald's target location.

"The Magic Kingdom." When the lights halted, Oswald found naught but a great dark void.

"Traverse Town." Darkness. Oswald's breathe quickened.

"Atlantica?" Darkness.

"Olympus Coliseum. Please…" Darkness.

"Radiant Garden." Darkness.

Oswald's hand fell from the globe and he allowed himself to drop. He'd suspected but hadn't wanted to believe.

 _'They're all gone. All of them. Every world I've ever known I'd bet. I have no idea what's out there anymore. I don't know if I can keep my promise, Mickey. I can't guide Marco if I don't know what's out there. The darkness swallowed everything. The darkness…. The darkness! Is that at least the same?"_ Scrambling back up, he moved back to the globe.

Hand dancing across its surface once more, he searched for his quarry. Dimming lights or even a silver one. There! A dimmer made Oswald stop on the spot, bringing the world to view.

Gazing at a large forest, Oswald allowed the image to flitter to his will. Deep into the forest it went, where the shade from the trees blocked out the sun. And there were the familiar faces he was looking for.

 _'Shadows, Soldiers, and a few Archers, but nothing I haven't seen before. What a relief! The Heartless haven't changed. At least from what I can see. How about…'_

Globe spinning again, he was quick to find what he was looking for. In fact he wasn't sure how he'd missed them before. Silver lights shined everywhere. Stopping on one, a city was brought to view. Massive with a diverse populace, Oswald pushed past the distracting denizens to find his prize. In a secluded alley he located what he was looking for.

 _'Yama Sheep, Yoggy Rams, and a few Me Me Bunnies. Again nothing new. Thank the stars. Guiding Marco will be hard enough without any more troubles. I just need to focus on my promise. Don't think about how bad this is Oswald. You can do this, you've got to make sure kiddo has you at your best. If only I could help him more. I don't have any idea what kind of worlds he'll be visiting. If I could watch his back it would make this easier.'_ Pondering the dilemma, Oswald's solution was presented to him when movement on the view caught the corner of his eye.

Slapping the globe, the lights vanished and Oswald returned it to its corner. Booking it back to the staircase; Oswald tapped the banister and announced his destination.

"Hall of Synthesis!"

Xxx

Marco leaned back in one of the study's chairs, catching his breath. After spending about an hour reading up on the spells, just enough to understand what he was doing, Marco had entered the practice area and let loose on the unfortunate training dummy.

A half hour later found Marco in his current state, still high off the rush of power coursing through his veins. A dopey grin split his face as he glanced down to the Kingdom Key on the table.

"I'm still not sure I was the best choice, but I'm not gonna complain. That was easily the coolest thing I've ever done. I can't wait to try some of that back home. You have gotta be the most awesome key ever." The golden key just lay there passively, a slight sheen passing down the blade. Trick of the light or not Marco took it as a good sign.

"I wonder where Master Oswald is. It's been a while, shouldn't that guide be here by now?" A glance to the door only served to disappoint him. His need to improve meant that sitting around waiting wasn't an option. So with a sigh Marco made to enter the practice area.

As if answering a call, the door to the study chose that moment to open. In walked the cherry to top all the madness that Marco had wrapped his head around in the past twenty four hours. A broom, with little wooden arms and hands, stood there on its bristles, gesturing for Marco to follow it. Blinking for a moment to ensure his continued sanity, Marco followed the walking cleaning utensil.

"Hi there, do you … uh.. live here?" Getting no response Marco huffed a bit and dropped his head.

"Yeah… I just tried to talk with a broom. Maybe I am going crazy. Well at least when they cart me off, I'll have plenty to write about. I could be like Vincent Van Gogh only with books! Annnnd both ears, I kinda like both my ears." The echoes of his own voice served to creep Marco out a bit and silenced any further voiced ponderings. Though when the two reached the staircase Marco did have to wonder.

 _'How does a broom tell the stairs where to go?'_ He might have been a tad concerned as the step sped off.

Xxx

When the step let the two off at their destination Marco found himself in a floor that seemed like a spice shop or maybe a candy store. Aisle upon aisle of jars were full to the brim with ingredients for who knows what. Dozens of strange smells filled the air and Marco was overwhelmed by his senses.

The broom lead him between the aisles to a large kitchen, or perhaps a laboratory of some kind. Kitchen islands placed throughout held cooking ware, utensils, and appliances ranging from commonplace to absolutely bizarre. A series of clatters filled the air as they approached. The accompanied muttering let Marco know he'd come upon Oswald.

"Master Oswald? Where are you?" Marco called out for his vertically challenged teacher. A series of even louder percussive noises filled the air followed by some mumbling that Marco suspected was not meant for young ears.

"Blast it all, Marco! Do I need to put a bell on you? It's rude to sneak up on people you know. Here I'll turn on one of the stove lights. Head towards it." A light turned on towards a corner farther back and Marco noticed a cauldron was bubbling, steam rising into the air.

Reaching the rabbit, Marco found Oswald with a collection ingredients and a book. Idly looking through the book before turning to the ingredients. Each time he would look hard at his collection of components shake his head and turn the page. A few repeats of this and Marco spoke up.

"Uhh Master Oswald, what are you doing?" Oswald paused for a moment to look back at his student, almost as if he'd forgotten the boy was there.

"Right, I guess this must look strange to you." Marco's eyebrow raised and he worked to keep his thoughts to himself.

 _'Not even close to the strangest thing I've seen in the past twenty four hours.'_ Regardless Oswald carried on.

"I am attempting to synthesize a partner for you. But I can't manage to find any recipe that I've got all the ingredients to. It seems like a good number were taken from the stores at one point without being restocked." This was all news to Marco and the whole thing wasn't making much sense.

"You lost me there Master. How are you going to "make" me a partner? It kinda sounds like you're baking a cake. Which I could help with if you need me to. I'm a pretty decent cook." Oswald looked back up to the boy and waved to a nearby stack of books.

"Grab a book and see if any of the recipes match up with the ingredients. As for how, well a long time ago a Keyblade Master managed come up with a process capable of creating companions using ingredients left behind by destroyed Dream Eaters; a form darkness takes on sleeping worlds. These companions, known as Spirits, took the forms of Dream Eaters and were formidable allies. It'll be good for you to have someone to watch your back." Catching on, Marco picked up a book and assisted his Master in the endeavor.

Twenty minutes later and Marco found what they were looking for. It would even work out back home and with a little work no one would even look twice.

Xxx

Back in Marco's bedroom a shadow snuck across the floor. Creeping ever closer it closed in on its prey. A hand reached out to Marco's sleeping form. Silent it pulled back the covers. And a photo was taken of the boy and his stuffed bunny Estevan.

Janna grinned down at her hapless target. She'd noticed the boy's absentmindedness throughout the day. Something was bothering him and she'd use her *ahem* talents to snap the boy out of it. She liked her Marco peppy and concerned with the world. A distracted dopey Marco just wasn't the same to sneak up on and rob blind.

The first day of school had certainly been an unfortunate series of events for Marco. But nothing worked better to knock Marco out of his funk then a little genuine, loving harassment from his favorite stalker. Looking down at her target she spotted the small grin, Marco was sporting in his sleep.

 _'Well at least you're having pleasant dreams. Wonder what's got you grinning?'_ At that moment a small light, the size of a dime, came into the being by Marco's head.

Janna's head tilted as she watched in confusion and the light bobbed up and down for a moment. The light shot to the end of the bed and grew, blinding Janna for a moment. When her eyes adjusted once more, her jaw dropped. At the end of the bed was a rolly polly, white and blue dog…. cat… thing with a horn on its head. It blinked at her cutely and Janna had to work hard to not conform to gender stereotypes and cuddle the ever loving crap out of it. Tearing her gaze from the creature she gave Marco a hard look.

 _'Oh Marco, Marco, Marco. You've got some explaining to do.'_ Janna's grin turned predatory as she turned and snuck out the way she came.

Xxx

 **A/N: And that's a rap for now. I'd wanted to get this out sooner but Christmas is here and shopping took up most of this past weekend. So if you want an idea of what Oswald's keyblade looks like, google Tyson Tan Oswald. The first image has the blade in question over his shoulder. The design of course belongs to him. There may be some grammar errors here as I'm not really proof reading this one as it's almost 4 in the morning. I'll go back later and get on that. Anyways next chapter will feature Marco's first world, a small confrontation with Janna, and a brief look at what Star is up to after feeling the of the Kingdom Key woke her up. Oh and that is the Kingdom Key D that Marco has not the Kingdom Key Sora wields. This chapter is really here to set up an important location and give some context as to why none of the worlds featured in the current Kingdom Hearts games will appear. Oh and for those who don't know Oswald is not an OC.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A Dark Key to Bright Places**

 **Disclaimer: Trust me I don't own the rights to any of the involved properties found in this story. They all belong to either Disney or Square Enix. I fear the mouse too much to tread on his toes.**

 **Chapter 3**

Returning to school the next day was a surreal experience. It was hard to return to the everyday humdrum of high school education, knowing that you could open a door to anywhere in the cosmos. A bit of experimentation in the morning proved his newfound ability with magic a reality. His Mother hadn't been as impressed with the burnt toast and blown lightbulb. Marco only barely kept himself out of trouble when Tipsy came into the kitchen. He was immensely grateful for how cute she was in that moment. His Mother had assured him that they would be having words later about sneaking a pet into the home without asking. But given that she had said that while cuddling the poofy pupper, Marco was pretty sure Tipsy was good to stay.

After producing the Meow Wow, now named Tipsy; on account of her constant teetering, Oswald and Marco had spent time going over what he had learned in the Initiate's Study. And more importantly what he hadn't. Turned out the black bookshelf had been full of texts cataloging the many forms that darkness might take. Oswald had made him return to the study and retrieve a hefty manuscript detailing different dream eaters and what he could expect from them. They were unable to cover it in full due to the sheer amount of information in the book and Oswald's need to cover other topics. It was decided to send the book back with Marco to read during the day, so they could go over other things.

The discussion had led to where Oswald would have Marco travel to first and the difference between awakened and sleeping worlds. Awakened worlds like Marco's own were the norm, whereas sleeping worlds were either deliberately hidden by a powerful keyblade wielder, such as the Tower of Mysteries, or those that had suffered seriously from an infestation of darkness but had managed to survive the onslaught. Retreating in on themselves the worlds made it impossible for Heartless to assault them further. The drawback was that the worlds themselves tended to go through periods of stagnation and sickness while they recovered. This could be further worsened by the presence of Dream Eaters. While the Heartless could not break into a sleeping world, darkness would always find a way. The Dream Eaters were formed from the suffering that tended to plague sleeping worlds. Lacking hearts of their own the Dream Eaters were not as inherently powerful as the Heartless but they were still dangerous. If enough gathered together, they would perpetuate the suffering that spawned them until the world was no longer able to hold itself together and sank into the realm of darkness.

It was to one of these sleeping worlds that Oswald wanted to send Marco to. As it was only possible to travel to a sleeping world in one's own slumber; Marco would be able to travel there and back without anyone back home being any the wiser to it.

But first Marco had to make it through the day without getting slapped with detention. It was getting progressively harder throughout the day to stay awake. Oswald had warned him that casting Sleep on someone wasn't a great substitute for falling asleep naturally.

Xxx

Walking out of his math class, Marco felt his brain turning to mush. Walking over to his locker he began changing his books for the next period.

"Ugggh, I'm dying here. I can't wait to get back to bed." Marco bemoaned to himself. A sudden voice from behind had Marco jumping practically out his skin.

"Rough night huh Marco?" Marco was just not cognizant enough to deal with his beanie wearing stalker today.

"C'mon Janna, give me a break. Could you torment me some other day please?" In an overly exaggerated fashion Janna placed a finger to her chin, looking contemplative in regards to the request.

"Well I could, I suppose. But what do I get out of it?" Marco's despondent sigh was the sign of a victory all too easily won by the girl.

"What do you want Janna?" And there was the grin he'd been waiting on. Somehow or another he'd played right into her hand.

"Weeeell, why don't you tell me all about this." With an air of nonchalance Janna pulled the Dream Eater manuscript from behind her back. Page opened up on the Meow Wow. Gulping Marco gave a weak grin, he wasn't even surprised that she'd managed to get it out of his backpack without him knowing.

"That? Oh its … well it's a new video game guide! Yeah! You know all sorts of creatures to beat." Janna wasn't fooled and Marco knew it. He was hoping she'd drop it if he stalled long enough.

"Really? Well you know, I'd be inclined to believe you but…." Poking her finger at the Meow Wow on the page, she wrapped an arm around Marco's shoulders, and brought the book up close.

"I saw this, just pop into existence on your bed last night. So wanna try again?" Marco was feeling a headache coming on. Master Oswald had been pretty insistent that the number of people that knew about other worlds be very limited. He hadn't even planned on telling Ferg and Alphonso. But Janna had of course managed to….

"Wait a second, what were you doing in my room last night?!" Realizing he'd said that a little louder than he intended, Marco slapped his hand over his mouth. As his head darted back and forth making sure no one heard him, Janna gave a casual shrug.

"You know I can't even remember now. Though I think I was considering a prank of some kind. Anyways, that's not what we're talking about. I've been reading through this for the past two periods and I gotta say, it leaves me with a lot of questions. So wanna tell me how a Meow Wow is vulnerable to fire based spells? Or even better, how to cast a spell?" Now Marco was well and truly backed into a corner. Left with no escape, he turned to one of his few remaining options left.

 _"Master Oswald? You wanna chime in? I could really use some help right about now."_ Idle chuckles answered Marco's plea and Oswald seemed distracted by something when he answered.

 _"Yes I heard. You're being pushed into a corner by a little girl. Hahaha oh boy, well you know her better than I would. What does she want?"_ Marco was keeping an eye on Janna as she leafed through the text while keeping him in her peripheral.

 _"Janna is super big on anything occult. If she found out that I could do magic, she wouldn't stop until she found out how to do it herself."_ Oswald hummed in response thinking carefully.

 _"A mage in the making perhaps, regardless I hadn't expected to be discovered so soon. There was a reason most keyblade wielders were moved to the home of their master. But even if you did want to leave your world behind-_

 _"Which I don't, at least not completely."_ Marco interjected, Oswald ignored the interruption and continued.

 _"Yes well even if you did, it's not in the cards at the moment. The Tower must remain in slumber until you are strong enough to engage its defenses. Shouldn't take long, but there are materials that we are lacking to perform that ritual and this girl might be able to assist. How good is she at keeping secrets?"_ Marco almost went to disparage the girl in that department but stopped himself. Sure she knew everything about him but as far as he was aware she'd never shared that info with anyone.

" _I think she has dirt on everyone in this school. But outside of using it for her own entertainment, I don't think she's ever shared sensitive info with anyone. So I think if we gave her a reason to keep quiet that she wouldn't go around blabbing about the existence of different worlds and magic. There'd be nothing in it for her."_ A brief period of silence in Marco's head left him staring at an ever more impatient Janna. No threat had been made but that didn't mean that there wouldn't be consequences for not answering her. Least of which would be him not getting the book back. Finally Oswald answered.

 _"This may work out. Tell her to meet you after school. I've got some questions for her and depending on the answers, we might see a new ally."_ Marco was still very unsure of this course of action but he decided to follow his Master's lead for now.

"Ok tell you what. If you meet me after school, I'll tell you everything. Nobody else can know about this though, ok?" Janna looked Marco up and down with a discerning eye.

"Fine, but I'm holding onto this until later. Consider it collateral to make sure you don't pull a runner. Not that it would help you anyways. See you after school." Dream Eater text in hand she walked off to her next class.

 _"I don't suppose you managed to read any more of that before she snatched it from you?"_ Marco's response of banging his head into his locker was enough of an answer.

 _"Oh boy, well I guess tonight's drop will be done by the seat of your pants then huh?"_ The groan was a decent indicator of Marco's enthusiasm.

Xxx

The rest of the day went by at a relatively quick pace. His anxiety over the later meeting with Janna, served to keep Marco well awake throughout the rest of his classes. Even if his notes were a little too haphazard for his liking.

When the bell rung on the final class of the day, Marco was quick to exit the buildings and look for his beanie clad classmate. A grip on his hood let him know, via choking, that she'd found him first.

"Come on, let's get back to your place. Remember if you run, I know where you sleep." Not having much choice, thanks to the leash hold she had on his hoodie, Marco followed behind.

An approaching Ferg and Alphonso were quick to give apologetic waves once they noticed his predicament. Whatever scheme Janna was getting Marco wrapped up in they would rather not get involved. Last time they'd tried to save Marco from Janna had ended with the infamous jelly bean spider incident. Ferg still wouldn't even touch the candy.

When the bus finally let them off at their stop, Janna walked up to the door and waltzed right on in like she owned the place. Mr. Diaz was in the living room painting a portrait of Tipsy, who was currently sitting very patiently with a treat on her nose.

"Hello kids! Marco why didn't you tell me you found such a sweet and smart dog? She's so obedient, I put that treat on her nose ten minutes ago and started painting. She hasn't moved a muscle." Marco looked to Tipsy, who glanced at him with her tongue sticking out, nubby little tail wagging like mad when she saw him.

"Yeah… I'm sorry I didn't tell you and Mom about her. I just couldn't leave her outside, she looked so pitiful." Mr. Diaz didn't drop his smile for even a moment. If anything he looked understanding.

"Yes, she may have gotten me to take her out with me when I took care of some errands. But her face is just so cute! Anyways, I didn't know you were coming over Janna. Bet you came over to see Tipsy. Do you want to stay for dinner? I'm making fish and ri~ce!" Mr. Diaz was loved by just about everyone. He was just too amiable and chipper, and even Janna was not immune. She'd known him since the first grade.

"You know I think I'll take you up on that. Marco and I have a lot of stuff to talk about so I might be here a while, Tipsy apparently knows some tricks. Thanks Mr. Diaz!" Dragging Marco behind her they made their way up to Marco's room. Tipsy was quick to whine after them and Rafael let her go after them with a pat on the head.

Xxx

Tipsy traipsed in after the two teenagers, tail wagging the whole way. Marco, sleepy as he was, couldn't stop the smile when the happy pup leaped on his knees and licked his face.

"Hehe alright, alright Tipsy. Down girl." Janna walked over and knelt down to scratch the Meow Wow behind the ears. Startled at first, Tipsy's eyes were quick to roll back and she leant into the touch.

"Alright Marco, time to answer some questions." Just as Marco was about to open his mouth when a certain rabbit spoke up.

 _"Alright Marco, here's what we're going to do. Don't keep secrets but we need to withhold info. She can't know about the keyblade. Not yet at least, I don't trust the girl that much. But tell her about everything else. Until the Tower is woken she won't be able to enter."_ Marco nodded in response, causing Janna to raise a brow.

"Ok Janna, I said I'd tell you. So let's start off with the spells I know. That's what you want to see right?" Janna faltered for a moment expecting more resistance but was quick to revert to her usual self.

"Yeah that's cool." Trying hard to not let her excitement show.

Holding out his hand Marco concentrated on the spell from the blue tome, trying hard to rein it in and not leave holes in his walls. A chill filled the room and quickly coalesced just above his outstretched palm. A glimmering sharp crystal of ice floated there birthed into existence by his will and the magic in his veins. Janna's eyes were wide and she had to work hard to keep her cool.

"So you can make ice. That oughta be great for parties. Anything else you can do with it?" Marco rolled his eyes at the supposed nonchalance the girl was projecting.

"Yeah, I could send it bursting through every wall in the house like the spell is originally intended for. There are several different ways the Blizzard spell can be manifested. It's probably the most versatile one I know." Janna was starting lose it. This was awesome! And the effort it was taking to pretend it wasn't, was beginning to be a bit too much.

"So what other spells do you know?" Marco realized he had the ball in his court and grinned with victory.

"Well I have the ever so classic fireball spell, a spell that lets me call down lightning, and finally a spell for healing some minor injuries." Janna, noticing the cockiness, decided two could play that game. There was no way she was going to let Marco have one over on her.

"Oh Marco, I never thought I'd see the day where you'd work up the nerve to tease a girl with something and just dangle it in front of her face like that. Pretty ballsy of you." With every word Marco's face turned a shade darker. They both knew she was messing with him. Unfortunately for him, it was working.

"Janna! Phrasing!" Marco was quite uncomfortable at this point. The rabbit now howling in his head didn't help the situation.

 _"HAHAHAHAHA! Oh this girl is great! She's exactly what we need. No offense kid but this girl's got you beat on the field of wordplay. Let her know that I will work on giving her a weapon capable of casting all four of those spells if she'll run around to other worlds for us and fetch what we need."_ Marco was not nearly so amused by all of this. With a sigh he started telling Janna everything he could without mentioning the Keyblade.

Xxx

Two hours of discussion later, Janna sat in his desk chair and fixated Marco with a stern stare. Doing her best to give off a classic villain vibe, complete with the idle affection given to a pet. The effect was somewhat diminished as Tipsy sat to the side looking as derpy and adorable as always.

"So this Master Oswald, who is an anthropomorphic rabbit wizard from another world, wants me to run some errands for you two. To other worlds. In exchange I get a weapon that lets me cast spells and, once this Tower of Mysteries has been woken up, access to a library full of arcane and mystic lore. Meanwhile you will be going to worlds in your sleep to fight monsters. So essentially I'm going shopping while you kick butt. That about right?" Marco was unsure if that was quite right but when she said it like that….

"Ok to be fair, it so wasn't meant that way. Master Oswald is kind of desperate to get the old place up and running and you've managed to worm your way into this situation on my first day. He seems to think you'll be a good fit for this. On account of.. well you're ability to con and blackmail anyone you meet." That got a grin. Janna looked pleased with herself as she did her best villain expression, leaning back in the chair while stroking Tipsy's head.

"Hey what can I say, I like holding all the cards and knowing what everyone else at the table has too." Oswald popped up with his two cents in Marco's head.

 _"Another reason she'll be good at this. We need info on what's going on in the worlds without letting on who we are. Tonight I'm going to show you how to open a portal without a keyblade, then I'll be giving you coats for her and yourself. I'll explain more later but for now, just let her know that if she accepts that she'll be given her first weapon and assignment tomorrow."_ Marco gave a bob of the head to acknowledge he understood. Looking to Janna he found her analyzing him with an odd expression.

"What?" Marco queried. Janna shook her head.

"You were talking to the rabbit again weren't you?" Marco could already see where this was headed.

"I look nuts huh?" Janna placed her finger and thumb up to illustrate.

"Just a little bit, but whatever. What did the rabbit say?" Marco relayed the instructions given and assured her that he would be good to his word.

After dinner, homework, and Janna's departure; Marco was officially spent. Turning in for the night. He closed his eyes and soon delved into the world of the Tower of Mysteries once more. This night would be his first mission. The first world he would save from darkness.

Xxx

Meanwhile in a dimension housed in Marco's own world, a princess sat in a place altogether unfamiliar to her. The castle library. Star had been here all day looking for something. She wasn't sure what but she'd know it when she saw it.

A large stack of books was heaped up on the table next to her as she looked for this knowledge that eluded her. It was driving her mad and the dust she kept dislodging was not helping. But ever since the other morning she had felt like something big was coming. Bigger than anything she had ever heard of and now she was desperate to find out what.

Working through the library, Star had skimmed through books on magic, the different dimensions, weapons, dangerous creatures, and what seemed like a dozen more subjects besides. Whatever it was that she was looking for was proving very evasive. At this point she had started looking through biographies of famous Mewmans. Which is how, after giving up on finding anything in Soupina's book, she found herself looking at a relatively short book on Queen Celena the Shy. It was still over a hundred pages but compared to the massive texts the other queens had this one was tiny.

Skimming through the pages she found an old image of a tapestry. She'd seen it before. The hall of tapestries was a monument to the many queens of Mewni. Detailing aspects that came to be attributed to them and tending to show them at their best. But the one in the book was different; or maybe it wasn't. It had been a while since she'd actually been to the hall of tapestries. The tapestry illustrated how everyone wanted to gain the Queen's favor and so receive the solution to whatever trouble plagued them. A procession of people making their way up stairs to her door, laden with gifts to give in exchange for wisdom. Celena herself looked to the door with Glossaryck by her side. But looking at the illustration in the book, Star could swear that Celena wasn't looking at the door but at something behind the pillar in her room. Something that on the small illustration Star couldn't make out.

Whatever it was though, it filled Star with a sense of desperation. This was what she had been looking for. Whatever Celena had been looking at was what Star needed to find. Snapping the book shut, Star raced down the hall and through the castle to her destination. Ducking under servants and past guards she was quick to reach the Hall of Tapestries. Walking down the hall, her eyes sought out their prize. It didn't take too long to find her, she wasn't too far back being her great-great grandmother and all.

And there it was, the thing she'd been so focused on. Sticking just barely out from behind the column was a massive flowery key. Much of it was still hidden behind the pillar. But Star could see it clear as day and how Celena's eyes weren't drawn to the door, but to the key instead. Star had to know what that key was. And if anyone knew what it was, she'd bet her mother did. The clicking of heels and a tut-tut behind her, made Star wonder if she had cast some kind of spell to bring her mother right when she needed her.

"And where have you been all day young lady? I have had guards looking all over for you and no one has been able to find you. We even searched the Forest of Certain Death. Now I hear about you running through the castle, as if you've been here all day, and find you in the Hall of Tapestries of all places. We were supposed to have lunch with the Spiderbites today. So would you kindly explain your absence?" Star had honestly forgotten about that. She wasn't really sorry for it either. Princess Spiderbite could be a bit of a downer. But she was getting off track.

"I was in the library trying to find something and –"Queen Butterfly started in at that point, looking bewildered at her child.

"The library? No wonder no one was able to find you. I would never have thought to look for you there myself. Well while I'm pleased that you have taken an interest in furthering your education that's not an excuse to disregard prearranged appointments." The look she gave Star made it clear that she was not happy. Exasperation was the best Star could hope for but she still had this burning need to know what the key was.

"I know Mom and I'm really sorry but I just felt like there was something I needed to know. It just wouldn't leave me alone at all and finally I just started tearing apart the library trying to find something. But I had no idea what it was so I ended up spending all day in there, it's really dusty by the way, someone should really get on that. Anyways I finally found something in Great-Great Grandma Shy's book. I'd never noticed it but I bet you know what it is. What's that big key that Grandma Shy is looking at huh?" Pointing to the column, Moon followed her daughter's finger to the tapestry.

"What key are you talking about Star? There's no key there. I don't know what kind of game you're playing but I don't have time for this. Look I'm happy that you're looking more into your family history but please don't miss another royal meeting. Ok?" That said Moon walked out leaving a confused and put out Star, muttering to herself.

"But there is a key. Mom needs some glasses. It's right there." Which was exactly when another voice popped up beside her. Scaring the daylights out of her.

"There is but your Mother can't see it. You shouldn't be able to see it. Which makes me wonder how you're able to see it, Star." Star gave Glossaryck a dirty look, still holding onto her heaving chest.

"Dang it Glossaryck, can you not? Seriously I think my heart almost exploded." Taking in a few gulps of air, she managed to calm her frantic blood pumper.

"What do you mean Mom can't see it? It's right there! I mean yeah it's kind of hidden behind the pillar but still, there is clearly a key." Glossaryck gave her that same keep creepy discerning gaze before placing his hand on his chin. Revolving around Star a few times he looked her up and down.

"Hmmm, interesting, very interesting. It seems Celena's intentions will be ruined even sooner than I'd thought. You are going to be a lot of trouble young lady." Star rolled her eyes at the overly cryptic blue genie.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah; you sound like my Mom. Star don't miss royal meetings, Star don't brawl with monsters, Star warnicorns are not to be ridden in the dining room! That last one might have been a good idea, thinking about it. Some things should never be smelled when you're trying to eat." Glossaryck shook his gem clad head.

"No Star, I said you will be trouble, not that you're in trouble." Star paused and head cocked wore a perplexed face.

"There's a difference? And what about Grandma Shy?" Glossaryck went back to the tapestry, gaze lingering on the key.

"Let me ask you a question Star. Why do you care so much about this key?" Star opened her mouth and paused before she could even utter a word. Why did she want to know about the key so bad?

"I'm… I'm not really sure. It's just a feeling. I woke up the other morning feeling so awake and alive, my whole body was tingling. Like I'd just knocked out twenty monsters in a row or spent all night at the bounce lounge but even stronger. Then the rest of the day I felt like something was calling me. It creeped me out for a while but today I couldn't ignore it. So I started tearing apart the library trying to find something, ANYTHING that would tell me what was happening. When I found Grandma Shy and I saw that key, I knew that it was what I was looking for. So I rushed down here. What is it, anyways?" Glossaryck sat there as unhelpful and silent as ever. It had long become awkward when he answered her.

"The key is a weapon that Celena came upon in her studies into the mysteries of the universe. Celena earned her moniker and even as a child she was nervous around people. I remember it frustrating her to know end. She couldn't help it, whenever she forced herself to speak with someone new she'd stutter over her words and stumble in conversations. But with those few that she felt comfortable with, Celena loved talking about anything and everything. She was one of my favorites." It was bizarre to Star to see Glossaryck smiling like that or show so much open affection for another person.

"There were plenty of times she'd come to me with something she'd read and wanted to discuss. That was her passion, the pursuit of knowledge. She loved learning about everything. But it bothered her greatly that she lacked her mother's good fortune and easy grace. Or even her grandmother's voice and the power her words held. But she found she had a knack for another skill that managed to skip both her mother and grandmother." Glossaryck gave the tapestry a critical look for a moment before carrying on.

"I've never liked this tapestry, it makes Celena seem like she's afraid of the people outside her door. But she was never afraid of people, just self-conscious about her speech. Celena was a fighter, as skilled with a sword as she was with a pen. It was in her blood; you have it too. Passed down from her great grandmother." Glossaryck floated a little ways down with Star following. To a tapestry holding an altogether more imposing Butterfly.

"Solaria the Monster Carver. That one, whew, what a temper. When she got going it was just best to book it. But there wasn't a fighter like her anywhere back then and there still isn't now. I once saw her punch a monster so hard it barfed the child it had just swallowed right back into the arms of their mother. Celena idolized the woman and grew up on stories her grandmother told her. So she tried taking up the sword and entering the yard with a few knights to train her. And to everyone's surprise she was a natural. Knocked a cocky little squire out on her first try. The little putz had it coming. Told me that yogurt was better than pudding. Can you believe that?" Looking to Star for a brief moment it was clear the question was rhetorical when he didn't wait for an answer.

"Anyways Celena felt like she was embarrassing her mother, like she wouldn't live up to being queen. So when she got the wand, Celena decided that she was going to make a name for herself. She traveled to hundreds of different dimensions and I saw her solve problem after problem, saving thousands of lives and making a name for herself wherever she went. She learned that by hiding her face behind the fan that she wouldn't be bothered talking to people. And when Celena would come home from her travels it was always to people crying out her name, celebrating her accomplishments." Star at this point was in awe of her great-great grandma. She'd never known about what she'd been like as a princess. Everybody just talked about how wise she'd been as a queen.

"But the questing ended when she found that key." Glossaryck gave the object in the tapestry a sharp look. As though he completely loathed the thing.

"Or maybe it found her. Either way, one day Celena was looking for an ancient site of power but when she found it most of the place was a wreck. Neither of us could read anything written there. It was too far degraded. She decided to camp there and see if she could find anything in the morning. Well when I woke up the next morning she was sitting there with the key in hand. She had no idea where it had come from. When she began to examine it for study she found it could make portals. But not like the one's Hekapoo's scissors make. No these were something else. Wherever those portals lead, I couldn't follow." Glossaryck shook for a moment remembering the single attempt he'd made to go through one of those portals. It had been … unpleasant.

"Celena would always come back with fantastic stories of far off places but whenever we tried to use the scissors to reach them, we could never get there. But Celena was completely enthralled with the key and would vanish for weeks on end at times. This went on for months and both her mother and I were beginning to get a little concerned. Then one day she exploded out of a portal, covered in all sorts of cuts and bruises. She yelled something about needing to lock the door and disappeared again before we could ask any questions. No one saw her for another week after that and when she came back; it was without the key." Star was completely enraptured by the story and had sat down on the carpet, giving Glossaryck her full attention.

"When I asked her what had happened to it she told me that she'd hidden it where no one could find it unless they truly needed it. When she found out the key had made its way to the tapestry she placed an immensely powerful curse on it, Star." Here Star gasped, curses were dark magic and serious business. To cast a curse, just to hide that little piece of the tapestry meant that Celena **really** did not want anyone finding out about it.

"But then why can I see it?" Glossaryck weighed the blonde girl in front of him.

"Because the curse kept the key out of sight of anyone that didn't need it." Star's mind took a little bit to catch on to what that meant. Hamster wheels catching up to speed she connected the dots and Glossaryck could see the comprehension.

"And that Star; is why I said you are going to be trouble." Star's eyes moved to the key so carefully hidden by the pillar and wondered what on earth she could need it for.

Xxx

 **A/N: Alright so don't kill me. I know I said we'd be getting to Marco's first world this chapter but I realized that I'd gotten so far into this and I didn't want another eight thousand word long chapter. But hey bonus is you guys get a Christmas present! Yay! I hope you all enjoyed and next chapter will start with Marco in his first world. Also if you haven't noticed I am making some changes with the SVTFOE timeline because I'm having a hard time pinpointing when certain things happen. It looks to me like Star comes to Earth shortly after her 14** **th** **birthday. Which looks to be about the beginning of the school year in August. It's also stated that Marco is 14 already and older than Star. Then on a separate point its stated that his birthday is November 28** **th** **. Now I don't know about you guys but things aren't quite matching up for me. So for this story I'm going to switch things up. Marco's birthday here will be July 28** **th** **and Star's will be November 18** **th** **.**

 **There will be time skips moving forward, as Janna and Marco work to accomplish the goals Oswald sets out for them and Star tries to find Celena's key. Oswald still isn't sharing everything he knows with Marco. And poor Marco is too enamored with all of this newfound power and prestige to doubt his Master.**

 **Next up karma pays Marco back for calling Oswald a bunny.**

 **Merry Christmas to All! And to All a Good Night!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A Dark Key to Bright Places**

 **Disclaimer: Trust me I don't own the rights to any of the involved properties found in this story. They all belong to either Disney or Square Enix. I fear the mouse too much to tread on his toes.**

 **Chapter 4**

"No." One word described Marco's feelings on the matter quite accurately. His Master on the other hand was thoroughly amused.

 _"Oh yes, my apprentice."_ Marco could hear the smile in the rabbit's voice. Looking down to his reflection in the water below, he was still hoping this was just a dream.

"NooOooo." He groaned his displeasure, eyes closed, in a slump. Oswald could hold it back no longer and promptly burst out laughing.

 _"Hahahaha, so how's it feel to be a bunny?"_ Marco cracked one of his eyes to look at his reflection again and confirm that he was indeed an anthropomorphic bunny.

His red hoodie and jeans were still in place but his body was decidedly not human any longer. Chocolate brown fur cover his rabbit body and his large feet. He wiggled his toes, getting used to the odd sensation that the new form came with.

"This isn't permanent is it?" Marco hopped from foot to foot, flexing his hands to get a better idea of his capabilities. Oswald was struggling to reign in his schadenfreude amusement.

 _"Haaha hoo hoo, ok. Ok. No, no this only happens on certain worlds. Some times when you go to a world, your human form will stand out like a sore thumb. So to keep you from ending up on display, it'll change your body to a shape that won't stick out. Don't worry, you won't wake up a bunny tomorrow morning."_ Marco exhaled a sigh of relief and looked to the city that sat below him.

A truly massive metropolis with examples of every possible landscape. Desert sands, lush jungle, frozen tundra, golden savannah, and verdant plains all surrounded a gleaming city of steel and glass. Standing on top of a mountainous area with dense vegetation, Marco was in awe of the place. Shaking his feelings regarding his form Marco began his climb down. To his side Tipsy allowed herself to bounce down the hill. A form of travel that Marco would have questioned the comfort of, if not for the ever present derpy, joyful expression on her face. Her form hadn't changed a bit and now was about the same size as him. Working his way down the slope and towards the city, Marco went over what Oswald and he had discussed before he'd dropped.

"So we're looking for whoever is giving the nightmares in this world direction, right? How are we gonna find them?" Oswald hummed before giving a rather lackluster response.

 _"Honestly I never really had a plan when I did this myself. I just kind of wandered around and stumbled onto what I was looking for."_ Marco almost tripped over the less than helpful suggestion.

"What? How did that work? Aren't you a Master, shouldn't there be, I don't know, like some kind of requirement for planning or something? How many worlds did you save from nightmares?" Oswald was rather offended by the amount of doubt he was facing from his protégé.

 _"I have saved_ _dozens_ _of worlds; and that's just from nightmares. I earned my mastery mark from Master Yen Sid himself. I was just always a jump in head first and plan it out as I go kind of rabbit. Always worked for me. Now my brother Mickey, he was the planner. He was always overthinking things. Though I guess that worked out for him. Anyways just get down there and look for some kind of crisis."_ Marco and Tipsy had reached the bottom of the mountainous terrain at this point and were making their way through the woods at this point towards the city.

"Uggh that is not helpful Master Oswald. That place is huge, who knows how long it could take to try and find whatever is going wrong there. Then I need to find whoever's causing the nightmares to act up and destroy their 'emissary' right? Who knows how long this could take." Marco running his hand's through his… well fur now in frustration, Oswald would have rolled his eyes if Marco would have seen them. That option being unavailable to him however…

 _"Kid you are going to have gray hairs by the time you're twenty if you keep that up. Trust me you have_ _the_ _lucky rabbit with you. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we walk right into a group of nightmares the moment we walk into the city. Then we just follow them right back to the leader."_ A disbelieving Marco was unsure of that but as the city was coming into view through the foliage, Oswald's luck decided to prove itself.

As the hoodie clad keyblader and his derpy companion made their way into a clearing, screams could be heard from the streets just beyond. A commotion worked its way closer and Marco could tell something was headed their way. When the source of all the hubbub finally burst into the clearing, Marco only had one thing to say to his Master.

"Not a word." He couldn't see it but Marco knew Oswald was wearing the biggest cheshire grin.

 _"I didn't say anything."_ Marco's eyes narrowed but he had bigger fish to fry.

Now standing in the clearing with him Marco recognized the Nightmares. Or at least he knew their names. With Janna having snatched up the Dream Eater text, he hadn't been able to learn more than the names of the Nightmares. Two Tama Sheep were quickly followed by a pair of Pricklemanes. At first it appeared that the Tama Sheep were being attacked by the Pricklemanes. But the moment the four of them noticed Marco and Tipsy their demeanors changed. Now the Pricklemanes were charging him, and Tipsy was quickly cut off by the melodic bleats of the Tama Sheep. Marco's partner wasn't going to be of much help as he faced the two little monsters charging him with maws full of dagger like teeth.

Hand whipping to the side, Marco's keyblade burst into life in his palm. The Pricklemane's were caught off guard for a moment and that was just what Marco needed. His new rabbit feet sent him flying forwards and with a hefty overhead swing, he sent a Pricklemane soaring across the clearing to slam into a tree. The remaining Pricklemane jumped at Marco and bit into his arm, latching tight. Marco cried out in pain and crashed the base of the blade hilt into the fuzzy monster's face in fury. The Pricklemane was knocked clear onto its butt, eyes spinning and Marco let loose a Fire spell at point blank range. The blast reduced his aggressor to wisps and a few items for future synthesis endeavors.

The Tama Sheep had continued to play their song and a dozing Tipsy was left out of the fight. But Marco aimed to change that as a Blizzard shot through one of the sheep to pierce the other on the opposite side. This was immediately followed up by a Strike Raid that sent the Kingdom Key spinning through the two before returning the way it came like some kind of buzz saw boomerang. One of the Tama Sheep met its end but the other got back up. Its tune began to play again, this time with Marco as the intended target but it was not to be. Tipsy had awoken at this point and vengeance was hers as with a great bounce to the air, she came slamming back down, and practically popped the bleating Nightmare. As if hitting a trampoline the rolly polly shot right back up and fell again with astonishing force. This time, right behind Marco; crushing the last Pricklemane and ending their encounter with the Nightmares.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Marco sat down with Tipsy resting next to him. The slight peace was not to last however as two large individuals came crashing through the clearing and stopped upon seeing the two. Dressed in police officer uniforms were an unlikely duo of a rhino and a lion. Towering over Marco and Tipsy they came thundering into the clearing, eyes looking all over for something. Noticing the exhausted looking boy and his companion the officers approached, the rhino taking the lead.

"Hey kid, did you see a couple of sheep being chased by some bobcats?" Marco raised a brow in response.

"Bobcats?" He wasn't exactly sure why they thought the Pricklemanes were bobcats but he'd roll with it.

"Yeah did you see them come through?" The rhino was being rather pushy. Considering Marco was looking a little scuffed up and laying on the forest floor, the lack of concern from what looked like a police officer was rather unimpressive.

 _"Remember what I said Marco. Natives don't need to know about any of this. They'll see what they want to see. Let them think those Nightmares are natives too and don't let yourself get drawn in."_ Marco nodded both to his Master's advice and the officer's question.

"Yeah I think so, they ran me over. I'm fine by the way. They went that way." Pointing back the way he'd come, the two officers were quick to head that way.

 _'Well they weren't very helpful. Now what?'_ Marco looked in the direction the officers had come from and the sounds of city traffic that assaulted his ears.

Getting to his feet and dusting off his pants, Marco made towards the urban area. Tipsy wadding along at his side. After about five minutes of meandering through the woods, they came upon a sidewalk. Looking up to the skyline Marco was overwhelmed by the sheer scope of what he was looking at. Nearby a large ad screen was just wrapping up a commercial. A gazelle was shown smiling at the screen.

".. Welcome to Zootopia."

"Zootopia huh? Wow" Looking around Marco had to say that it the name fit. Hundreds of animals, of dozens of different species were walking all over the place. Everyone going about their business just as he'd seen in any human city. However, a quick glance failed to reveal any trouble or Nightmares.

 _"Look closer Marco. There might not be any Nightmares present but it doesn't mean this place is at peace."_ Following Oswald's advice, Marco looked closer at the various animals that made up the city's population.

During his first glance Marco had not been actively looking at the people's actions. He had been more interested to see if any were actively moving away from one area or another. Now though he was noticing some odd interactions here and there. Certain animals made efforts to avoid or move quickly by others. After watching for a minute or two, Marco was able to discern what exactly was going on.

 _'The carnivores are being avoided. But it doesn't look like all the herbivores are doing it. The carnivores look bothered by it when they notice. So something is going on.'_ Marco mused to himself with hand on chin.

 _"Good work, didn't take you long at all. The carnivores reactions mean that the fear isn't normal or at the very least a new situation. Find out what's going on, find the culprit, and I guarantee we'll find the 'Emissary'."_ Marco looked around for someone that might be able to give him some help, a newspaper, heck maybe even an electronics store with the news.

Sadly it looked like Oswald's luck had run out for Marco. Whenever he tried approaching someone to start up a conversation they would make one excuse or another and then be off on their merry way. This would keep up for another thirty minutes or so until Marco gave it up. Sitting down at a nearby park bench he took a moment to collect his thoughts and plan a course of action.

 _"Master Oswald, this isn't working. Any advice here? Nobody is willing to give me the time of day."_

 _"Find another bunny. Birds of a feather and all that. People in big cities like this one tend to always need to be somewhere. Or at least believe they do. But when someone relatable looks to be in need, people are more likely to stop and help."_

New goal in mind, Marco hopped off the bench and began his search. Keeping an eye out for any more Nightmares while doing so, Marco and Tipsy looked all over for another bunny. Their search would take them all over the city. It was an interesting experience to say the least. So many environments all within walking distance. It was about midday when Marco finally found another bunny. Or rather one passed him by. She was driving a beat up, blue, pick-up with a fox riding shotgun. Catching her out of the corner of his eye, Marco started after them.

Like that Oswald's luck seemed to be back on track. The pick-up didn't go far before it stopped near an alley. Following the fox and rabbit, Marco was lead to a weasel selling what could only be bootleg dvds. Or at least that was the only thing Marco could safely assume given how the weasel was pushing out his wares. The fox and rabbit seemed to be interrogating the weasel, though what it was about he couldn't tell. Moving closer to the three Marco was only able to get the tail end of their conversation.

"It's Weaselton, Duke Weaselton. And I ain't telling you nothing and there ain't no way you're gonna make me." A look was exchanged between the fox and rabbit before the fox pulled out a phone and made a call.

Not even five minutes later and two large polar bears were carrying the weasel into a limo, the fox and the rabbit not far behind. Marco was unsure whether or not to intervene, but this looked like a potential kidnapping and if nothing else it was the only lead he had to follow.

 _"Quick Marco into the trunk."_

 _"What? No way! There is no way I am breaking into someone's car to hide in the trunk. I won't even be able to see where I'm going."_

 _"Now's not the time to worry about legality. They just abducted that weasel, this is the best and only lead we've got. So stop being a squeamish sissy and get in the mob car's trunk!"_

Grumbling under his breath about the wisdom of this choice, and refuting the claim against his character, Marco did his best to sneak up behind the vehicle with Tipsy. One tap and the trunk popped up, a moment later and Marco and Tipsy were hiding inside. Listening against the back seat he could hear the rather frantic protests of the weasel as the vehicle left.

"What do you think you're doing? Get your filthy paws off me!" His demands were apparently being disregarded, given the lack of deceleration in the vehicle. A voice that Marco only vaguely recognized as the fox from the alley answered.

"Pretty sure the only one with filthy paws in the car is you, Weaselton. You know, you could always tell us what we want to know and we could cut this car ride short. Drop you off right here."

"I ain't no rat. I'm not telling you anything!"

"Suit yourself. Guess we'll just have to bring you to the man that can't be turned down." A gulping noise was heard and Weaselton didn't have anything more to say. A feminine voice that could only have been the rabbit, spoke up putting in her two cents.

"Weaselton, people are getting hurt. Whoever you sold those night howlers to is using them to make predators go savage. If we don't stop them, then this will only get worse. Are you really that selfish?" A raspberry blown seemed to be the only response she would get. Her aggravated sigh answered before the fox spoke up.

"It's alright Judy, we'll get what we need." At this Weaselton faked a gag, or at least Marco assumed it was fake. No one was making any sounds of disgust.

"You're a traitor, Nick. She's a cop, crooks don't help cops. What's wrong with you?"

"Maybe I don't want to be a crook anymore, Weaselton." Silence resounded throughout the vehicle and nothing was said for the remainder of the ride.

When they finally arrived at their destination, Marco waited for the other passengers to leave the vehicle before unlocking the trunk and peeking out. Seeing the others moving to enter a mansion, Marco was waiting for them to enter before getting out. Unfortunately the group was about to have some issues. Just as they were about to walk in the abode, a large group of Nightmares appeared around them. Pricklemanes, Tama Sheep, and even a pair of Kooma Pandas.

Throwing caution to the wind, Marco bound from the trunk to help, Tipsy quick on his tail. The initial hit stunned the bear before the fireball sent it reeling away from the group. The two polar bears had no problem scattering the Nightmares near them, even knocking a few silly. Judy was holding her own just fine, having sent one Tama Sheep flying into another. Nick was doing his best to stay out of reach and behind the polar bears but looked out of his element. Weaselton meanwhile had tried to make a break for it in the commotion but it had ended poorly for him, surrounded as he was by a trio of Pricklemanes and a Kooma.

Summoning the Kingdom Key, Marco sent it flying in an Air Raid towards the Kooma and then followed up the toss with a Fire spell to the large bear's face. Knocked onto its back, the large nightmare was defenseless. Tipsy took advantage of the moment of weakness, slamming repeatedly into bear and ensuring its demise. Meanwhile Marco bounced into the midst of the three pricklemanes and swung his keyblade wide, catching two with his initial slash and bringing the blade up to block the third. Placing himself between the pricklemanes and Weaselton, Marco turned his head to the weasel.

"Stay behind me. It looks like they're after you." Weaselton's head bobbed up and down, shamelessly hiding behind the teenage rabbit.

The two hit initially were on their feet to begin their attack on Marco once more but seemed to have forgotten Tipsy. Speaking of Marco's faithful pup, she was more than happy to capitalize on their mistakes. Slamming into one of the pricklemanes, the two were sent rolling away from the rest of the combat. The Tama sheep were busy with Judy, and the other Kooma Panda looked to have bitten off more than it could chew with the two polar bears. Marco made to put down the two as quickly as possible, lifting the key into the air he issued a thunder spell. Great bolts of lightning fell from above and struck the two.

Frazzled and on their last legs it only took a few swipes of the keyblade to dispatch the two. From there, he and Tipsy made quick work of the last pricklemane and joined the others. Combined with the rest of the group, the nightmares were dealt with shortly afterwards. Catching their breaths, the group was ushered inside by an enormous polar bear and what appeared to be a shrew. Once everyone was calmed down a little, though Weaselton was still pretty shook up, Judy turned towards Marco.

"Alright buster, thanks for the save out there but I think you've got some explaining to do. I saw you come out of the trunk, what were you doing in there?"

"Uuummm…" Caught off guard by the sudden questioning Marco wasn't quite sure how to respond. He couldn't tell the truth, forgetting the fact that natives didn't need to know about the outside worlds, no one would believe him anyways. Luckily for him it seemed Nick was on his side.

"Easy Judy, the kids did just help us out. If they hadn't been there, they might have got Weaselton. Then we wouldn't have any leads to the night howlers. What're your names?" Nick's save gave Marco some breathing room and he was more than happy to answer.

"Oh sorry about that, I'm Marco and this is Tipsy." Tipsy gave a big grin and tipped back and forth.

"She doesn't talk a lot. I'm actually looking for whoever is sending those animals out to cause trouble. I think that whoever is behind the animals going savage is also sending out troublemakers like those. I saw all of you just snatching up Weaselton and honestly thought you might have something to do with it. But since you were attacked, I guess that means you aren't responsible."

Judy looked a little embarrassed, considering that their actions had actually amounted to abduction. But she shook it off and focused on the fact that a teenage bunny was charging head first into dangerous situations. On the one hand seeing another bunny acting so bravely filled her joy but on the other hand his interest in all of this was more than a little strange.

"So why exactly are you looking for the perp? You're a little young to be getting involved in this Marco." Warning bells were sounding off in Marco's head as he thought frantically for an answer. Nothing he'd said so far had been an outright lie. But at this point, twisting the truth just wasn't really on the table.

" _Ooh ooh, Marco, Marco! I've got a trick for you, used it all the time as a kid. Make your eyes as big as they can be and look them in the eyes. Then say something pathetic. Trust me it works like a charm."_ Marco groaned internally, this was so embarrassing. But without any better ideas….

Eyes big and shimmering with tears, he looked to his audience.

"I'm sorry it's really… it's really hard to talk about. Please don't get mad." Despite his misgivings, Marco could tell it was working, well sort of. Everyone looked about ready to shed some tears of their own, everyone except Judy.

"Oh don't think that'll work on me. I've got way too many brothers and sisters for the baby bunny look to work on me." While it may not have been effective on her, the others were not as immune.

"Judy how can you be like that. The kid's obviously got some serious emotional investment here. Don't be rude." Nick shook his head disbelievingly. Likewise the polar bears joined him, giving their own shakes or disapproving looks. Even Mr. Bigs himself was looking a tad disappointed.

"My dear, it's rather uncouth to make a child relive painful memories." Judy's jaw dropped, flapping up and down in her shock. With a click she closed her mouth and gave Marco a rather critical look. Through grit teeth she gave a strained smile.

"Alright Marco, that's fine but don't you think it's a little too dangerous to get involved in this? I mean you could've gotten hurt just now."

"It might be dangerous but I have to find them. Besides I'm a green belt in karate and you saw how well I could handle myself out there." Turning away from Judy, Marco looked to Weaselton. "Mr. Weaselton if the people involved with the savage animals and the people sending out the trouble makers are the same then they're coming after you. I think you should tell us who that is." Weaselton gulped, looking still shook up over the whole ordeal.

"Alright, alright. It's one thing to protect my business, but if they're trying to see me pushing up daisies then it's fair game. You're looking for a ram named Doug in the subway. I'll write down the address, but be careful. Doug's the opposite of friendly, he's unfriendly." Marco snorted at the last comment.

Xxx

Despite Judy's protests, Marco and Tipsy rode with her and Nick to this Doug's hideout. Reaching their destination, Judy would try again to dissuade the two but Marco argued that if nothing else they could be lookouts in case something went wrong. He also pointed out that she wouldn't have time to both chase down Doug and keep them from getting involved.

Going down into the subway, the group came to an old subway car. Lights on inside, they moved closer to get a better look. Before they were about to enter the car, Judy waved off Marco and Tipsy. Gesturing for them to stay outside, her and Nick snuck inside. Marco rolled his eyes at the dismissal but kept outside with Tipsy.

As they waited for Nick and Judy to come back they began to hear someone talking inside the car. Unsure of what was going on, Marco bounced up to a window and peered over. Inside he could see a ram talking on the phone, Nick and Judy looked to be hiding under a table. Nick spotting Marco put a finger to his lips. Marco got the message and sunk back down, only for Tipsy to grab his pant leg and roll them both under the car. Hissing at the sudden yank, Marco whispered angrily at Tipsy.

"What are you doing Tipsy?" In response Tipsy gave a low whine and pointed with her nose to two pairs of feet approaching the car. Actions explained, Marco patted Tipsy on the head and scooted closer so he could get a better idea of what was going on. Whoever had shown up was banging on the door to the car.

"Hey Doug open up, we've got your latte!"

"It better have the extra foam this time." Not even a moment later the ram was lying on top of the two newcomers. A door slammed and Marco could hear Nick shouting inside. Seemed Judy had done something rash.

Shouting from the rams outside the car and from Nick inside turned the whole atmosphere into chaos. Marco was left a little unsure of what to do at this point. The decision was made for him not long after when the car began to roll away. Two of the rams were quick to follow it, leaving Marco with Doug. Just staring at one another for a moment, Marco gave a little wave.

"Hi." Not even sure what to make of today, Doug waved back.

"Hey." More awkward silence.

"Sooo I'm just gonna go. Bye." Marco rushed down the track racing after the subway car.

Doug pulled out his phone to make a call to his employer.

"Hey so you might wanna send out some of those things. This looks like it could be a bigger problem than we'd thought."

Xxx

Fast as he was Marco wasn't as fast as a speeding train car. He'd already passed one ram, holding onto his now bald and rather chafed stomach. Marco grimaced at the sight and continued on his way. Squeezing past a train as it zoomed by, Marco ran onto a bridge just in time to hear a large explosion. Tipsy had just caught up with him. Her little tongue lolling out, huffing and puffing. Sadly this was just not her day.

"Come on Tipsy we need to catch up with them." As Marco ran forward once more, Tipsy could only give a rather sad and pitiful whine before doing her best to keep up with Marco.

Marco entered a station, viewing the wreckage of the car he began to look frantically for Nick and Judy. Hearing their voices from above the station, he gave out a sigh of relief. Heading towards the sound of voices, Marco came into a natural history museum. A loud scream got him pushing pedal to the metal in an effort to save whoever was in trouble.

Three rams and a small sheep were looking down into a pit. The sheep looked rather peeved with something.

"I framed Lionheart, I can frame you too. It's my word against yours." From the pit Judy's voice spoke out.

"Oooh actually." The sound of some kind of recording device played back the sheep's voice.

"And I'll dart every predator in Zootopia to keep it that way."

"It's your word against yours. It's called a hustle sweetheart. Boom." The look of fear on the sheep's face was priceless and Marco had to cover his mouth to keep himself from laughing. The look on her face changed though into one of malicious intent.

"Oh Judy, the night howlers weren't the only part of my plan." A massive, two story tall Yoggy Ram appeared behind the little sheep.

"Crush them." Marco summoned his keyblade and charged, this was what he'd been looking for.

"Hey over here." The Yoggy Ram turned towards Marco just in time to get a spinning keyblade to the face.

" _You're really getting a lot out of that Air Raid huh?"_ Oswald's query went unanswered as Marco leapt out of the way.

The enraged Yoggy Ram was now trying to crush Marco under hoof. Exhibits were being destroyed all over as Marco did his best to stay out of the way of the Ram's stamping. Taking pot shots with fire spells whenever he got a moment but things weren't going as well as he would have liked. This nightmare was quite a bit tougher than the ones he'd faced before. When a hoof finally managed to get a hit on Marco he was sent flying into a nearby pillar.

Gasping for breath, Marco wasn't in any sort of condition to move out of the way fast enough as the Ram lowered its head. The Ram's great horns smashed into him like a train, and Marco was airborne once more. Flying towards the end of the museum hall, Marco rolled towards the entrance to the station. The sheep spoke up again, angrily giving out orders to the Yoggy Ram.

"Hurry up and get rid of that little bunny. We need to crush the two in the pit before the cops get here." With a loud bleat the Yoggy Ram brought its head to bear again, massive horns prepared to smash Marco flat. He was rather fortunate that a green glow covered him, healing his wounds and allowing him the energy to leap out of way, letting the Ram's horns careen into the wall behind him.

A bark from the station's entry way pulled Marco's attention to a very pleased Tipsy. Quick to make her way over to Marco and lick his face all over. Her concern for his wellbeing was touching but they had bigger issues. Still as he looked to the massive opponent that loomed over him, a question was raised in his mind.

"When did you learn how to cast cure, Tipsy?" The meow wow didn't even pay him any mind. Her little green eyes locked as they were on their foe, the cutest growling imaginable coming from her.

" _You really need to get the book back from Janna. Most Meow Wows are capable of casting a cure spell. Now I'm gonna give you a bit of free advice. Stop using fire spells on the Ram. It has a resistance to fire. Try using some blizzards instead."_ Oswald's advice heard, Marco let loose a blizzard spell, sending the chunk of ice flying and cutting through the Yoggy Ram.

The effect was immediate and the Ram reared back in recoil. Which Marco used to press his attack. Letting loose with an Air Raid the key cut its way down the Ram's side. Marco booked it between the beast's legs and raised his hand, the blade spinning its way across the Ram's side again in the return trip to its owner's hands. As the Ram was about to regain its bearings and trample the bunny between its legs, Tipsy leapt at the Ram her horn slashing across the nightmare's chest.

Marco took the opportunity to roll out from beneath the Ram's legs. He could tell the nightmare was becoming more and more agitated, but wasn't ready when the Ram let loose a deafening bellow from its horns. The blast sent both Marco and Tipsy flying, while the museums other occupants fell to the ground clutching their ears. White noise filling their ears, Marco and Tipsy struggled to their feet.

"Alright this isn't working out too well. I need a plan." The white noise still present, Marco wasn't sure if had said that out loud or if he'd just thought it. Looking around Marco spotted a cove with an exhibit featuring a tiger on a tree surrounded by spear wielding bunnies.

"Ding! Light bulb." Firing off another blizzard shard to get the Ram's attention, Marco ran until he was just in front of the cove. Standing his ground he proceeded to repeatedly fire blizzards at the Ram. The Ram meanwhile was looking rather agitated and raised its head to fire off another blast.

This wasn't what Marco was looking for however. The moment its head raised back he cast thunder. The lightning struck the nightmare full on in its eyes, leaving it momentarily seeing stars and firing the cacophonous blast into the ceiling. Dust and debris raining down on everyone below. But with the Ram stumbling and agitated Marco hoped this next part would work.

"Hey mutton chops! Come on and hit me! Let's end this mano a mano!" Brandishing his keyblade he took a stance and with his free hand gestured for the massive beast to come at him.

Blinded, by both rage and its still recovering eyesight, the Ram was only barely able to make out Marco. Stamping a hoof it lowered its head and charged. And like that it fell right into Marco's trap. Just as it was about to slam into him, Marco leapt straight up. Every inch of those rabbit feet working overtime to see Marco go over the Ram's head and straight onto its back. The Ram unable to stop its charge, continued on; crashing right into the cove and firmly wedging its horns in the small space. A fact Marco proceeded to take ruthless advantage of.

Blizzard after blizzard was fired until Marco could feel himself grow tired of exhausting his mana. At which point he took to wailing on the Ram with the keyblade until its legs buckled. The sudden drop caused Marco to lose his grip and he fell off the Ram. The beating looked to have put the nightmare on its last legs, but had also managed to free it from the cove. Turning to face Marco, it shakily rose up. Raising its head to deliver another blast, Marco was too tired to effectively scramble out of the way.

It was fortunate indeed that Marco's trusty sidekick was there. Tipsy slammed horn first, like the cutest racquet ball ever, into the side of Yoggy Ram. Finally bested, the Ram fell to the side disappearing as it did so. Before its horns could even hit the floor, the nightmare was not but stardust and ingredients which Marco was more than happy to pick up.

Unfortunately it looked like the native rams in the room had found their courage again and Marco turned to find them coming at him. Or at least they were for a moment, the appearance of a familiar pair stopped them dead in their tracks. The cavalry had arrived, the massive rhino and the lion behind him meant Marco could rest easy. A little late for Marco's tastes but hey at least they'd shown up. Looking down at him the rhino cocked an eyebrow.

"Aren't you the same kid from earlier?" Marco gave a cheeky grin before allowing himself to collapse. This whole day had been exhausting.

Xxx

A few hours later at the police station and Marco was a little more cognizant. After having been bombarded by news crews and questioned by the police to help them file their reports, Marco was ready to go. But Judy had asked him to stay around a little longer. Oswald was against the idea entirely.

 _"Seriously kiddo why are you still here? You didn't have to give them a police report, or answer any questions. And why would you use my last name? You could've just booked it and woken up in bed feeling refreshed. You're a keyblader, you don't have to answer to this world's government. You just have to protect them from darkness and then be on your merry way."_ Marco gave a scowl at the argument.

 _"You're last name seemed like a good idea at the time. We don't need anyone knowing my real name right? I thought you said we needed be secretive and I'm sorry Master Oswald but rules are what separates us from the animals."_

 _"Ummmm…."_

 _"Ok poor choice of words in this case but you know what I mean. Besides Judy wanted to talk to me before I left and if it hadn't been for her and Nick, I never would have found the 'emissary' to begin with."_ The conversation was cut short when Judy walked into the room.

"Whew what a mad house out there. Sorry it took me so long, there were just a bunch of questions that I needed to answer." Marco waved her off.

"It's no problem. Anyways what was it you wanted to talk about?" Judy straightened herself up a little bit.

"Well buster, I wanted to thank you. I don't know where that giant came from but if you hadn't been there, Nick and I would've been pancakes. So thank you." Giving Marco a genuine smile she pulled him into a brief hug, leaving the boy flustered. Judy wasn't done though, her tone becoming sterner.

"Buuut I also want to make sure that you know that you can't just go around trying to stop crimes whenever you want. That's what the police are for. That being said, when you get older if you want to be a police officer give me a call. I'll be happy to give you a recommendation." Grinning down at the boy, Marco was torn between being irritated at the warning or flattered by the offer.

"You think I'd be a good cop?" Judy's grin widened a bit.

"Heck yeah, I know you would." Marco grinned back at her. The moment was ruined when Oswald cut in.

 _"Alright, alright this is all very touching but let's go kiddo. We still have some stuff to do at the tower before I let you go."_ Marco gave a long winded sigh and pretended to look for a clock. Spotting one, he turned back to Judy.

"Sorry Judy but I've gotta go. My parents are gonna get worried if I don't get back soon." Heading towards the door Judy got up too.

"Do you want an escort? I could get someone to drive you back."

"Nah that's alright, I'd rather not scare them you know. Me showing up in a police car might give them the wrong idea. Hehe." Judy gave a shrug.

"Alright if you're sure. Oh, I just remembered there was something else I wanted to ask you about. You said your last name was Tlaw right?" Oswald was immediately on alert. That name was so uncommon that he couldn't remember ever having met anyone outside his family, Mickey, and Master Yen Sid.

"Yeah why do you ask?"

"That was my great grandmother's maiden name. I guess that makes us related huh. It's a small world." Oswald shut down, his voice cracked when he spoke up in Marco's head.

 _"Marco tha- that last name is really uncommon and for a rabbit to have it…. Cou-could you ask her if she knows any other Tlaws?"_ Marco could tell something was bothering his master but now wasn't the time to ask.

"That's pretty funny actually. Besides my parents I haven't actually met any other Tlaws. Do you know any?" Judy nodded her head in response.

"Oh sure, I have a bunch of cousins with that last name. I honestly thought you were one of them but I wasn't really sure. I mean it is a really old name after all. Supposedly any bunny that can trace their family line through the Tlaws is descended from a wizard. Funny right?" Marco gave a forced laugh before thanking Judy for her time and heading out of the police station.

Xxx

No words were said until after Marco got back to the Tower. Even then Oswald was rather withdrawn. Marco had to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Sorry Marco I was lost in my thoughts. What was it we were doing?" Marco gave him a discerning look.

"Well we were going to look into grabbing that item for Janna but I wanted to make sure you were alright. You haven't said much since I talked with Judy." Oswald waved idly at Marco's concerns.

"Don't worry about it Marco, I just didn't realize I had so many relatives is all. Haha anyways lets go grab that staff. Well I say a staff but it may be that she'll have to make do with several staves instead. After the state the hall of synergy was in, I can't imagine the armory is doing much better." Leading the way to a staircase Oswald smiled and chatted with Marco to put the boy's mind at ease.

Unknown to Marco however, Oswald was a mess in his head, and he was doing his best to not break down.

 _'So some of my children made it at least. They got to live full lives and had families of their own. Thank you, thank you Ortensia for watching over our children when I couldn't. I promise I'll make them pay. For those seven monsters, justice is coming.'_

 **A/N: Alrighty so I know tht I've been gone for a while but I have had a lot going on. Anyways to make up for that I have been working quite hard to get some more chapters ready for you. That and a near 13,000 word timeline reaching back nearly 3000 years to help me get my thoughts together. I have a spoiler free version that I may add at one point. Depends if anyone is interested. I actually have the next two chapters ready to put out but I want to try and pace myself here. So I will be releasing a new chapter every Friday for the next month. After that it will be a bi monthly update as I give myself time to write and edit the chapters. I touched up my previous chapters as well. Noticed some errors here and there that I wanted to correct. Oh while I am still unsure of what all Disney worlds I want to feature, I do know what Final Fantasy worlds I will be including. Went ahead and updated my profile if that interests you.**

 **But anyways I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you next Friday!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A Dark Key to Bright Places**

 **Disclaimer: Trust me I don't own the rights to any of the involved properties found in this story. They all belong to either Disney or Square Enix. I fear the mouse too much to tread on his toes.**

 **Chapter 5**

It was beyond surreal returning to class the next day. Yet despite the oddity that his life had become, Marco remained steadfastly at attention throughout his classes. A fact that Janna seemed to have noticed and was more than happy to bring up between periods.

Swapping out books at his locker, Marco was ambushed by his stalker. As he shut his locker, he was introduced to Janna's inquisitive face. Startled by the sudden closeness, he took a few steps back.

"Dang it Janna. Do you have to sneak up on me?" Janna gave the boy an obvious look of mock sympathy.

"Aww is the great savior of worlds scared of little old me?" Marco rolled his eyes at her obvious attempt to rile him.

"Janna I've known you since kindergarten, and you have given me plenty of reasons to be scared of you." His deadpan look only served to see Janna grin viciously.

"Good, good your fear sustains me. Num num num. Now where's my magic?" Marco huffed at the girl's impatience.

"They're back at my house. There's no way I'd bring them to school. You'd probably light the place on fire." Janna snorted at Marco's accusations of wanton arson.

"I mean I like fire as much as the next teenager, but there's no way I'd risk getting my ticket to true magic. So when do I get my sweet, saucy magic? It's Friday and I'm looking forward to a weekend of witchy goodness. "

"Soon Janna, Master Oswald wanted to make sure you could cast the spells and then we're gonna go to a world he picked out for us. He wants me to go with you this weekend, then we can get you a spirit like Tipsy to help you when you're out on your own." Janna nodded, still grinning.

"Nice, all the best witches have a familiar. When are we going? I told my Mom I'd be out late with friends. Which basically means I'm good until Sunday." Leaving the question of how those two things equaled out, Marco continued on.

"I'll meet you around six at my place. I'm still not sure where we should go. We need to go somewhere no one can see us but I can't think of anywhere that works." Brow raising, Janna's grin turned sassy at Marco's wording.

"Trying to get me all alone are we? What did you have in mind?" Marco's face flushed and he fought to keep himself from becoming flustered. This was why he normally avoided Janna.

"Ok well…. I'll see you after school. Bye!" Rushing off to class, Marco left Janna grinning as he fled.

Xxx

A few hours later and Marco and Janna were leaving Marco's house after having dinner with his parents. It was a little later than they had intended but it was hard to turn down Mr. Diaz and besides Marco's parents had extended his curfew by another hour to make up for it. Janna was getting a little impatient however. Tipsy had been left at the house, too sleepy from overeating and Marco was hoping not to be involved in any fighting tonight. She knew the hiking backpack Marco was wearing held the power that she had only ever dreamed of despite a multitude of attempts in order to gain magic in the past.

"Alright so we're good until eleven. Now let's get to the good stuff. Where are we going to try out some spells?" Marco unfortunately didn't have the answer she was looking for.

"I honestly don't know. Every time I think of a place that could work, I realize it's got too many people around or we probably shouldn't be there. Do you have any ideas?" Janna pinched the bridge of her nose. Marco's goody two shoes act could be adorable when used to mess with him for her own amusement. But right now it was being a serious pain in her butt.

"The aqueduct, under the bridge on the east side of town. I've got a spot out of the way that I use occasionally." Walking towards her destination she was stopped by Marco going safe kid again.

"Wait, Janna. I don't think we're supposed to go there and what if one of us falls in? We could hit our heads on the concrete. Or the police could see something and then we'd be in even bigger trouble. Or –" Marco's tirade was stopped when Janna halted in front of him. Taking in an exhausted sigh she turned to look at him.

"Marco."

"What?"

"Chicken butt." Lights out for Marco.

Xxx

When Marco was snapped out of his hypnotized state he found himself in a tunnel, underneath a bridge. He was laying on a walkway to the side of the water, in a wheelbarrow of all things. Nearby he spotted Janna going through the contents of his backpack. Including the two staves she needed to practice with and the coats they would need for tonight's journey. Noticing her stirring compatriot Janna got up to help him out of the wheelbarrow.

"Hey sleepyhead welcome to the land of the living." Marco groaned, holding his head as he felt the beginning of a bruise on his forehead.

"Did something hit me? Wait how did we get here? Did you hit me?" In increasing levels of irritation, Marco tried to get out of the wheelbarrow by himself.

Unfortunately this only ended with him tilting over the thing and ending up rolling on the concrete. Janna could only gaze pitifully at the sight.

"No I didn't hit you. Your head hit the pavement before I could catch you. Doesn't matter. While you've been out of it, I've been going through our inventory. Found these by the way, I'm guessing they're mine." So saying she held up the two staves, to which Marco nodded on the ground.

"Uggh yeah they're yours. Have you messed with them yet?" Janna held out one of the staves.

The staff itself was incredibly simple to look at. It was a short piece of oak, about the length of a cane and at its top was a small crystal ball. Giving it a wave towards the water, a chill filled the air as a thin layer of ice formed over the waterway before being swept downstream.

"Not much. But as you can see I get results."

Marco was honestly baffled. No instructions, no direction, no guidance of any kind, and Janna was able to harness magic that easy. If he was honest with himself, he was a little jealous. A rather sleepy sounding Oswald butt in to share his two cents on the matter.

" _Don't be a baby. Some people are just more adept at magic than others. They're just born with a better grasp of it than others and as a consequence have more mana. If the girl had been born on any number of the worlds I'd been to, they would have snatched her up and thrown her into an academy the moment she could walk. Tell her how the rod and staff work and get a move on. You don't have all day."_

Some slight grumbling about not being a baby aside, Marco got to following his Master's orders.

"So that one there is a dark rod. Using that you'll be able to cast thunder, blizzard, and fire. I guess you already figured out that it's mostly about will and feeling. You have to have an idea of what those things are. For beginners you're supposed to attach a word or phrase to it to help yourself out."

Janna gave a gesture of acknowledgement before focusing on the rod once more. She'd seen what Marco had done using the blizzard spell so she had an idea of what it was supposed to do and he had explained what thunder and fire were like. Being no stranger to fantasy rpgs meant she had a firm grasp of what these should be like anyways. Looking towards the water again, she focused on memories of winter winds and fallen snow.

"Alabaster Wool!"

Rather than firing a single large crystal of ice, Janna's blizzard produced a spread of frosty needles firing in a cone away from her.

"Woah!"

"Holy crap! How'd you do that Janna?" Marco was in awe of the display as Janna had effectively frozen a large portion of the aqueduct and caused the water to rise.

"I don't know. I did it just like you said. But instead of that icicle harpoon you used I got that instead." Marco shook his head. He'd have to ask Master Oswald later but he got the feeling that if he pestered him now it wouldn't be productive. He got cranky if he didn't get enough sleep.

"Well that was something else. But it looks like the range isn't so good." Looking at the waterway Janna could see what he was talking about. The area of water close to them was frozen pretty far down but it was drastically thinner the farther out it went.

"Meh oh well, we'll just consider it my spray and pray if things get in my bubble. I'm gonna try the others now."

With a cries of "Bright Star" for fire and "Swallows Twitter" for thunder, Janna easily displayed a grasp of the other two spells. While neither of those two were in any way different from the forms Marco's own spells took, Janna showed virtually no effort in letting loose with her magic.

"*whistle* That's amazing Janna. Three spells in a row like that, when I do it I start to sweat. Master Oswald says I don't have a lot of mana, but you cast all of those like they were nothing."

While jealous at first, Marco had noticed the smile on Janna's face was more authentic than he'd ever seen. And really, it just wasn't in his nature to down on someone so happy with themselves. Noticing Marco's stare, Janna caught herself and tried to play down her excitement.

"I mean yeah, of course I'm going to be awesome at magic. It's no big deal."

Marco grinned at having caught her in one of her rare excitable moments. Normally Janna was cool as a cucumber but she'd been super excited about learning magic. Unimpressed by Marco's amusement, Janna put down the dark rod and picked up the much longer staff. About the same height as she was, the staff was made of pale maple with a crook at its top.

"Alright, so what's this one? I tried figuring it out earlier but it didn't really do anything, just sort of hummed in my hand."

"That's a white staff. You'll be able to use the cure spell with it in order to heal light wounds. If you use those two enough you'll be able to cast their spells without them. We wanted to bring more but the armory was kind of bare."

Janna hummed in response. Then an errant thought crossed her mind. Looking up to Marco's bruised forehead, she cast her spell.

"Morning Rose."

With his head surrounded by that familiar green aura, the pain from his bruise eased.

"Ahh that feels so much better. Thanks for that. Alright let's put on those coats."

With the two clothed in the long dark coats, Marco held out his hand and followed Oswald's instructions from the previous night. Darkness pooling into his hand. Janna's interest perked up again, though noticeably less frantic. Looking at her Marco was pretty sure she'd burned out her pool of excitement for the month. She just didn't have that kind of energy.

"So slick black coats and now darkness itself wafting through your fingertips. You sure we're good guys?" Janna was joking, but Marco was too engaged in the control of the darkness to pay her much mind.

Not even looking her way, he spoke back calmly and smoothly.

"This is serious Janna, so I need you to pay attention. The coats work the same way the rod and staff do. If you channel mana into them, and picture the place you want to go then you can open a Corridor of Darkness. Now the important bit here is that you can never enter a Corridor without wearing the coat. You will be able to open them without the coats eventually, but don't go in without the coat."

If there was one thing Janna loved it was the forbidden. Especially the dark and macabre, and this had all of her favorite trademarks.

"So hypothetically speaking, what would happen if I went through without the coat on?"

The glare Marco gave her was unsettling, but not enough to put her off the issue. She remained just as chill as ever looking him in the eye expectantly. Their stare down lasted a few moments before Marco caved.

"If you go through the Corridor without the coat, darkness will build up in your body. Eventually it will begin to corrupt your mind. Paranoia, voices that aren't there, and a general sense of dread are the first things to appear. Then you'll start to see enemies everywhere, attacking anyone that gets too close. After a while that dies down and then you become a heartless wearing corpse. Please don't mess with this Janna. We're going to be partners in all this, I have to be able to trust you."

The pleading in his voice tugged at Janna. It had been a while since anyone really trusted her. Oh sure she had friends, people she hung out with. But everyone seemed to keep her at arm's length. Well except Jackie, but they'd been friends for as long as she could remember. She'd given Marco plenty of reasons to distrust her too. So if he was extending an olive branch, and offering her access to so much that dreamed of then she'd go with it.

"Fiiiine, I won't go messing with the creepy, mind wrecking, demon holes."

Giving her a critical eye for a moment, Marco couldn't find anything devious in her face. Which wasn't saying much but he chose to believe her.

"Thanks Janna. Master Oswald kinda scared the crap out of me with the lecture he gave on these. So I've got the world we're going to in mind. I'll open the portal this time and then you should be open portal back there in the future."

Janna waved Marco on and he held the wafting darkness in his hand outwards. With a downward slash, Marco flung the darkness in front of him. Where it landed the darkness quickly spread and grew, sprouting up into a large egg shaped hole of blackness. Lifting the hood of his coat, Marco took Janna's hand and started making his way through the tunnel.

"Watch your step."

Lifting her own hood Janna rolled her eyes at Marco's caution. Allowing him to guide her for his own peace of mind more than anything else.

' _He can't even help it. No matter how hard he tries, he's always gonna be at least a bit of a "Safe Kid".'_

Xxx

When Janna and Marco stepped out of the Corridor moments later, they found themselves in an alleyway. Nearby was a bustling street with the light of midday shining down in such a way as to distort the vision of the teenagers. Lowering their hoods, Janna took in their surroundings a bit more.

The buildings on either side were made of stone brickwork. The wind was kicking up thankfully, as the heat was quickly getting to her with the coat on. Marco was already taking his off to put in his backpack and Janna was quick to follow suit. She wasn't able to make out much of what was going out on the street given how bright it was but given some interesting silhouettes it was safe to say that not everyone on this world was human. The spirit of adventure flowed through both of them and while Marco looked decidedly more excited as he looked at the street ahead, Janna wasn't immune to its charms. The corner of her lip quirking up, Janna was ready to go.

"You ready yet, Marco?" Fidgeting with his bag, Marco pulled out a notebook and flipped it to what looked like a list.

"Yep I've got the list of things we need and some other stuff to look out for." A thought occurred to Janna.

"Wait how exactly are we gonna pay for anything? I don't know about you but I don't have a lot cash on me. Assuming our money is any good here."

Marco stopped mid stride to face palm. Turning back to Janna he pulled two bags out of a side pocket on the backpack, he put one in his hoodie and handed the other to Janna. Holding it, there was a certain weight to the bag like a pound of sand. Upon opening to look inside though, Janna was presented with a large amount of gold coins.

"Woah. Where'd you get all this Marco?"

"It was from Master Oswald. He has a treasure hoard from his time adventuring as a keyblader. The pouches are bottomless, so I'm not sure exactly how much is in there. But it should be plenty, we kind of just took like a dozen armfuls and dropped them in."

Disregarding the fact that she was probably holding more wealth than anyone in her family had ever seen; Janna shrugged with nonchalance and put the bag in her own hoodie pocket. White Staff on her back, Dark Rod in hand, loaded with cash and the coats put away in Marco's backpack, the two were ready to mingle with the populace of a totally new world.

Xxx

Moving from the shadows through the curtain of light, the two blinked away the pain of blinding light. When their vision cleared they stood face to face with a place out of their dreams. Eyes wide, they took in the marketplace around them. While not exceptionally different from any open air market the two may have seen on earth, the difference lay with its patrons. While humans were present, there were easily half a dozen other species of people perusing the various wares offered. What looked like a plushy with wings and a red pom-pom hanging above his head shouted advertisements from a stall, a massive pig man with a single horn, a tall dark skinned woman with large rabbit like ears, and more oddities could be found all over.

Marco and Janna stood there for what seemed like forever, just taking in the strange and exotic atmosphere of the place. Marco appeared far more star struck between the two of them, his mouth agape and his eyes darting from one new wonder to the next. But even Janna was stunned, her eyes shining with interest as she registered the unknown around her. Still even with the excitement, Janna's situational awareness remained intact. Which meant the boy carrying a veritable mountain of goods didn't walk into her. Stepping to the side to avoid being buried under merchandise, Janna watched with amusement as Marco remained unaware in his reverie. The collision was just as amusing as she could have hoped. Both Marco and the boy going down in a jumble of arms and products. Janna laughed to herself as she witnessed her partner's misfortune. Marco on the other hand.

"Oww. Dang it Janna, you knew that was going to happen. Was a heads up too much to ask for?"

"Pfft, aren't you supposed to be the hero here? Cuz I've seen roadkill with better reflexes." Janna rolled her eyes at Marco's indignation, lazy grin unchanging even as she helped him up.

The boy meanwhile was doing his best to gather his things, apologizing as he did so.

"Ahh man, I hope nothing broke. I'm so sorry about that, I shouldn't have tried getting all this in one trip. My friend Filo was supposed to help but she ran off. I'm Kytes by the way, sorry about running into you."

On his feet now, Marco was able to get a better look at the boy. He was obviously a few years younger. Brown hair, an orange shirt, under green robes, and brown shorts; the staff on his back was possibly indicative of a background in magic. Marco made to help the boy to gather his things.

"No problem, I should have been paying better attention. Here let me help."

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

With their arms full of Kytes' things, the younger boy got a better look at Marco and Janna. Including their clothes.

"You two aren't from Rabanastre are you?" Before Marco could say anything, Janna interjected.

"Yeah, just got here today. Still getting a feel for the place you know. You from around here?"

Kytes took a step back. The older boy had seemed pretty friendly but the girl had alarms going off in his head.

"Umm yeah. Lived here all my life actually. You know you aren't the first people to land on this world."

This immediately put both Marco and Janna on edge. Eliciting Marco's eloquent response.

"What?"

Kytes couldn't help but laugh at their faces.

"Well yeah, this whole world is full of people from different worlds. Whenever the heartless destroy a world, people from those worlds show up here."

Janna's eyes slid to Marco, narrowing slightly in expectancy. Oswald chimed in at this point, in order to help out his protégé.

" _I suspected this might be the case. It's why I sent you here. But there wasn't any way to be sure without coming. It's a safety net world in the Realm Between. There's no harm in them knowing you're from another world but don't be too trusting."_

Nodding towards Kytes, while keeping his eyes on Janna; Marco tried to keep convey a message to each. Kytes looked a bit confused, unsure of what was going on. But Janna knew the look that had come over his face a moment ago. If Oswald was alright with this then she'd let it go. She made a mental note to ask if there was any way for her to hear him too. Marco looked back to Kytes.

"Yeah, sorry about that. We aren't actually from a destroyed world, we're here looking to buy some stuff. But we weren't sure how friendly people were here."

While his words were carefully chosen, Janna gave him a disbelieving look. The stink eye she gave him did not bode well for Marco's future though. Kytes meanwhile just carried on, not noticing the byplay between the two.

"Oh are you part of a clan then?"

Before Marco could dig them a deeper grave, Janna stepped in.

"No but maybe if we help you carry your things you could show us around."

"Really? That would be awesome. Thanks."

Children didn't have much of an attention span and manipulation was why Oswald had brought her in on all this. A kid wasn't much of a challenge but Marco was too innocent. The less the kid knew, the less he could share with anyone he knew. That's when problems might arise.

With Marco and Kytes carrying the load, Janna took the list from Marco and read off what they needed. As they followed Kytes he would point out where they could obtain the items they were looking for. He also took the liberty of pointing out a number of locales that might be of interest to them in the future.

Their walk would eventually lead them to a massive building of marble and glass. Easily taking up an entire block by itself and standing close to five stories tall. But what truly caught Marco and Janna's attention were the docks at its top. These docks played host to a dazzling variety of airships.

"Woah." Marco was stunned by the dazzling array of ships that made berth there and even more that were circling the place.

The hive of activity was truly stunning to see. Each ship maneuvering the skies, around and underneath its brethren in order to reach its destination. Kytes let out a sigh of peace looking up to them. Noticing his companions' faces he could completely commiserate with the feeling that their faces displayed.

"Yeah it's something else right? I mean I've lived in Rabanastre all my life and I still just stare at the Aerodrome some times. I mean it's just so … so.. well I'm not really good with words but amazing isn't enough."

Marco turned to their young guide and grinned.

"Yeah I know what you mean. It's hard for me to wrap my head around."

Janna meanwhile was trying to put the sight into words.

"Silver, bronze, and gold scales. Fins of cloth born skyward sail. Motions of teeming schools belie the order of skilled hands rule."

Marco and Kytes stood there looking at Janna open mouthed. Prying her eyes away from the scene above, Janna noticed the looks she was getting from the other two. She'd been overcome for a moment there and being caught like that was a little embarrassing. Her cheeks gained a pinkness to them even as she schooled her face. Before she could berate the two boys though a female voice spoke up from behind her.

"That was lovely. Are you a bard?"

The small group turned to the newcomer and found a young woman with long blond hair tied in two plaits. She was wearing a short grey top and baggy red pants. Strapped across her back was a large, golden staff with a crescent mood at its head. Hanging off the tip of the crescent moon was a Koumori Bat.

Janna was taken aback by the girl's comment and had to take a second to register. Unsure whether she should take that as a compliment or not, Janna decided to just roll with it.

"Nah, I'm just into poetry. Thanks though. Cool bat. I'm Janna by the way."

"Aah sorry, I'm Penelo. I saw you with Kytes and came over to see who his new friends were. The little guy up there is Albedo. Nice to meet you." Stepping forward with Kytes things still in hand Marco introduced himself.

"Hi there, I'm Marco. We were just helping Kytes carry some of this stuff."

Spotting the load that Marco was carrying she turned to Kytes.

"Wasn't Filo supposed to be helping you with the shopping today?"

Kytes looked down, scuffing his shoe. It was obvious he didn't want to rat out this Filo. Penelo was having none of it though.

"Kytes, I know you don't want to get her in trouble but she was supposed to be helping you. We needed these supplies for the ship. If she thinks she can be part of the crew and not do any of the chores then she's mistaken."

With Kytes looking chastised, Penelo went to Marco and relieved him of his burden.

"I need to put this all away but you're welcome to come up. I can get you something to drink or a snack, as a thank you for helping Kytes."

Janna was about to decline but was beat out by an excited Marco.

"You mean we can see your skyship? Yeah we'd love to!"

Janna went with the flow, she wasn't in any big rush. If she had to come back here tomorrow to get the shopping done that was fine by her. She'd planned on spending her whole weekend here anyways.

Walking into the Aerodrome the group found themselves in a massive lobby with dozens of large elevators scattered here and there. Circling around the perimeter of the building were a few stairway entrances and a good number of what looked like receptionist desks. But right by the elevators were several statues and the one near their own that caught Marco's, or perhaps more accurately Oswald's attention.

The statue was of a fit middle aged man with long hair and a short beard. An eye patch covered one of his eyes and he wore a rather familiar coat. There was an inscription at the base of the statue.

" **To Braig Centurio. Father of Clan Centurio and creator of the Dawn Orbs. Thank you for the stars you put in our reach."**

Oswald's thoughts spun and spun as he looked to the statue in no small amount of incredulity.

' _How did that prick survive? And why does he have a statue?!'_

 **A/N: Hello again ladies and gentlemen. The stage is almost set. We've seen what Marco will be up to and now we know where Janna will be spending her time for the most part. Up next we get to see what's going on with Star.**

 **Oh and I can't remember if I said so or not last chapter but I went ahead and updated my profile with potential worlds and added a timeline for my settings history. It's spoiler free, but I figured rather than padding a chapter with another ten thousand words I'd just put it up on my profile and if you want to read you can and if not it won't mislead people as to a chapter's length.**

 **To Gameslover41592: Thank you! I thought it was appropriate and Oswald has had a pretty rough life. Rabbit needed a win.**

 **To Star's Keyblade4114: I aim to please.**

 **To Darkphantom13: Yes. The keyblade thing is a little difficult because anything I include I want a reference to and there aren't always keyblades for all the worlds I'd like him to visit. But as for the others yes. Nobodies are harder to spot than Heartless for the device in Yen Sid's study. They don't actively try to change a world's nature on their own. Lost souls that require direction. So they're there but finding them is a pain.**

 **To OMAC001: Well here you are!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A Dark Key to Bright Places**

 **Disclaimer: Trust me I don't own the rights to any of the involved properties found in this story. They all belong to either Disney or Square Enix. I fear the mouse too much to tread on his toes.**

 **Chapter 6**

For Star Butterfly the past week had been the most taxing period of her life. Breaking a wild warnicorn, no problem. Fighting a horde of monsters, piece of cake. Even Moon the Undaunted herself could be caught off guard by her daughter's tenacity. But these were uncharted waters for the blond hellion.

"I haaaate books. Uuughh, why is this so hard to find."

Lounging back in the library, the table she sat at had towers of books obscuring her person. Moaning pitifully, she rubbed her tired eyes and glared at the massive library around her.

"Stupid library. REVEAL YOUR SECRETS TO ME!" Head slamming onto the table in despondence and aggravation, Star eyed the towers of literature surrounding her.

"Aarghh, I wouldn't even have to do this if stupid Glossaryck would just tell me where to go."

Since she had discussed Celena with the little blue man a week ago, Star had been trying to find the key in the tapestry. When she had tried to get Glossaryck to tell her where it was, he had been decidedly unhelpful. When she asked her mother about it, Moon had been dubious about the entire ordeal. Star had tried to explain the situation but with Glossaryck either pretending she was crazy or just flat out ignoring them, Moon wasn't willing to put too much effort into hunting down a relic that may or may not exist. Regardless of it being a possible family heirloom.

The only direction she'd been given was being directed towards the library. Particularly the section dealing with the many different accounts written about previous queens and their accomplishments. The problem was that unlike the biographies she had read through before, the "Ode Section" of the library was full of accounts of questionable validity. Written by multitudes of different bards, poets, and historians throughout the centuries, the texts were often written in an outdated form of speech, might feature exaggerated feats, and had a tendency to be vague in terms of date and locale.

Having spent a week combing through a dusty library, Star was beginning to get fed up with her lack of results. This was the most time she'd ever spent trying to read anything. And all it was serving to accomplish was to prove to her that it was a waste of her time. Sure she had a number of places that Celena had visited but most of them didn't match up with anything on any of the maps she could find. It had been over a hundred years since that time. Looking to the places she'd written down, she decided to take a break. Taking her notes with her, Star made her way to the kitchens.

"If Glossaryck would help then this would be so much easier. But nooo he has to be a pain in the butt like always. I am not crazy!"

A knight passing by gave the girl an odd glance, before quickening his pace. Star gave the man the stink eye and blew a raspberry at his back. Huffing she continued stomping onwards, grumbling to herself. Looking down to her list she began to go over which destination she should try to visit first. Some of these places were really dangerous and she'd have to sneak her way past her Mom to get there. Others she was unsure of their actual locations, she recognized the dimensions they were in but had no idea where in those dimensions they were. Those remaining would be the best places to check out first but the difficulty lay in choosing which one.

Her preoccupation with her list inevitably left Star distracted. Which allowed the door of the kitchen to swing open right into her head. Thick or not Star's dome was not appreciative of the trauma, given the splitting headache she now sported.

"OOWW! What the heck hit me?" Clutching her now bruised head, Star's question was answered by a yellow dress. Or at least that's what Star could see of her, given her injured state on the ground.

"That's Heckapoo actually. Should really watch where you're going." Looking up Star was face to face with the forger of the dimensional scissors.

"Ow. Hey Heckapoo, was there a Commission meeting today?"

In response Heckapoo, pulled out a bag of chips and popped a few in her mouth.

"Nah, Moon just wanted to ask me about some new scissor holders is all. Figured I'd raid your spicy corn chips while I was here. What's got you so worked up? I could hear you muttering from down the hall."

"Nothing I'm just trying to find some really old history junk and …. Heeey wait a minute. If you heard me down the hall, why'd you open the door on my head?"

Rolling her eyes and popping a few more chips in her mouth, Heckapoo didn't seem too bothered by Star's annoyance.

"Should've watched where you were going. I can't see through doors. Anyways what junk are you trying to find?" Star huffed at the dismissal but handed over her list of locations.

"I'm looking for something that Great-great Grandma Shy owned. Glossaryck said she hid it somewhere and that only someone that needed it could find it but now he won't help me look for it. I looked all over the library for places that she went but I don't know where a bunch of these places are."

Looking the list over, Heckapoo moved back into the kitchen. Gesturing for Star to follow they sat at a table. Pulling out a pen from seemingly nowhere, Heckapoo proceeded to make corrections or additions to the list.

"That place was blown up like twenty years ago, that's still there but they changed the name to this, ooh wow that's a dragon nest at this point, that's not a city it's like a floating pirate dock."

This would go on for a while as Heckapoo made her way down the list to give Star further direction. When she finally got to the end the paper was absolutely littered with notes. Heckapoo looked pretty pleased with herself.

"There you go. That should even us out for the door thing. Though a bit of advice, I'd go with your gut for the first place you go. Celena was a pretty powerful queen; if you need to have this thing then whatever's drawing you to that place should lead you there."

"Thanks Heckapoo! This is great! See you later, bye!" Star ran off in excited frenzy, snack completely forgotten.

Heckapoo just shrugged and grinned to herself. Reaching back for a chip idly, her hand found only empty air. The sound of loud snacking on said chips let her know she'd been caught. The little blue man holding her bag of chips gave a burp after devouring some more of her chips.

"So I take it that you listened in on my meeting with Lekmet and Omnitraxus. A meeting I am fairly certain you weren't invited to." Heckapoo's face morphed to a scowl in response.

"Yeah and I still don't get why the old folks brigade are the only ones that need to know about this. I mean shouldn't you have told me and Moon at least? Star's her daughter and dimensional travel is supposed to be my biz. So why are _we_ left in the dark?"

"Don't take that tone with me young lady. We both know that you aren't in any way interested for Moon or Star's sake. You just want to see that key again."

Heckapoo's nails had become rather interesting all of a sudden.

"Heckapoo leave it alone. None of us were able to follow Celena and we all tried. You, Omni, Lekmet, Rhombulus and I all tried. None of us could go to wherever that key took her. It's outside of our domain, I don't think I have to remind you what happened last time you meddled with it."

Lowering the neck of his robe, a silver scar became visible on Glossaryck's chest. Gleaming against the natural blue of his skin it was a very evident reminder of one of Heckapoo's follies. One that she had not forgotten, given the shamed look she had when she spotted it. Eyes darting away quickly to the ground upon its reveal. But not enough to drive the point home. Eyes narrowing, whether in guilt or rage was anyone's guess, Heckapoo looked back up to her creator.

"That's why we should be looking into it though! You made me to make sure that interdimensional travel is kept safe right? This should be something I look into. I mean if that key is actually beyond **you** ; then what if there are more out there! You said it yourself, whatever Celena saw out there scared her to death. She refused to talk about it, even on her deathbed. If someone came here with another one of those keys and wanted to just take over, then we wouldn't be able to stop them. Or maybe there's something worse out there! We need to know."

Glossaryck shook his head, a sad smile on his face. Hovering over to Heckapoo, he pat her hair. In action that shocked her out of her mood, it had been forever since he'd last done this. Centuries, if not longer. Instinctually she leaned into his small blue hand, eyes closing as Glossaryck spoke up.

"You've been around for quite some time. You've seen and done so much in your time that you seem to think that you know it all. So I can understand why this might frighten you."

Heckapoo's eyes shot open and she made to protest. But Glossaryck placed a hand over her lips, stopping her.

"There is nothing wrong with fearing the unknown. It's perfectly natural and I did my best to give you and the others natural mindsets. While still allowing you the kind of psyche required for each of you tasks, of course. But for me, I've been around even longer. I've been around so long that I've let myself forget or even repress a lot of knowledge. But it's still there, lingering in the back of my mind. So that even if I think I'm encountering something for the first time, a sense of déjà vu in the back of my head lets me know that I've been there, done that. So when that key first popped up and I was hit with a sensation I had long sense forgotten; it was exhilarating. It scared me at first and I'll admit that it still scares me now a little. But I trusted Celena back then and I'll trust Star now. After all it's all we can really do anyways."

As Heckapoo pondered her creator's words, Glossaryck disappeared chips in hand. Left to her own thoughts, Heckapoo walked off.

 _'I'm still certain it needs to be found. But… well it's not like we don't trust the Butterflys a lot already. I'll just keep an eye on it and see where things lead. I mean heck unless something goes wrong on an interdimensional level it's not my problem.'_

Xxx

After the meeting with Heckapoo, Star had immediately gone to see her father. Without any dimensional scissors of her own, she wouldn't be able to travel to another world without help. And between the two of them, her dad was far more likely to lend her a pair of dimensional scissors.

When she did locate her father, Star found King River sword fighting with a white monkey atop the tallest tower in the castle. A sight that had her completely flabbergasted, mouth hanging open ready to catch flies.

"What ho, you blasted ceature! This shall be the last time you get the better of me."

The monkey screamed its defiance back at the king. Atop its head was a little jester hat, and perched on that was King River's crown. The monkey shrieking again, waved its sword violently. How or where it had gotten the weapon was as much a mystery as why her father was actually dueling the little simian. So Star stood there and took in this most bizarre and confusing spectacle until her father took notice of her.

"Ah hello Star, if you give me a moment I will be right with you. Once I best this white haired rat!" The indignant scream from the white monkey displayed its displeasure.

Shaking her head, Star tried to clear the bamboozlement from it. Attempting to intervene in order to speed up the process of the scissors, Star spoke up.

"Wait, wait, wait, why exactly are you fighting with a monkey?"

"Well because he has my crown of course!" Looking at her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ok, but why does he have your crown?" By now the monkey was just sitting there idly, sword in its lap, picking its nose as it waited for them to finish up.

"Because it's challenging me dear, it thinks it should be king. Do you know I found it rummaging through your mother's undergarments the other day?"

Grossed out at far more info than she wanted to know, Star faux gagged. Looking to the monkey she saw he was now blowing his nose on some piece of garment. A piece of garment that looked suspiciously like ladies' fabric. Unsure of whether to be disgusted, horrified, or enraged, Star decided that going with all three would be the best course of action. With a smile that belied her inner rage she calmly walked up to the little varmint. The monkey was wary, its eyes picking up something unnatural from Star's face.

"Now Mr. Monkey would you be so kind as to give me that crown." Hand held out Star gave her best patient smile.

The monkey was having none of it though, promptly going into a rage and raising his sword. Star remained as calm as could be though.

"Now Mr. Monkey I know that this isn't what you want but I promise you that –" Giving a deep gasp she pointed behind the monkey.

"Oh my gosh! Giant eagle!"

The monkey didn't even blink. One eyebrow raised, he placed the sword into the stonework and leant on like a cane. The look on his face clearly stating that he was unimpressed with her bluff. Or rather what he thought was a bluff. It wasn't. Which was why he disappeared into the beak of an enormous bird a second later. King River howling all the while.

"HAHAHAHA! Thank you Barty my old friend. I don't suppose you could spit my crown out?"

With a slight ding the crown hit stonework, falling out of the beak of the enormous bird. The monkey screeching in terror within. Star wasn't sure if she should intervene or not.

"Umm Dad, is he gonna eat the monkey?"

"Hmm well, while he might want to and I definitely want him to, I suspect Foolduke might be a tad upset. Aaaaw Barty go ahead and spit him out."

With a disgruntled look, the eagle spat out the awful little simian. Who was extremely quick to scamper away. Hopping right off the side of the tower in order to flee. Watching him go Star remembered why she had originally come to see her father.

"Oh Daddy, could I borrow the scissors for today? I wanted to go visit some places great great Grandma Celena went to when she was travelling."

Stroking his beard in thought, King River gave his daughter his attention.

"Did you ask your mother?"

"Well not exactly but I did talk with Heckapoo and she seemed ok with it. She even gave me the list of places!" Pulling out the list she pointed out Heckapoo's notes.

River looked the paper over intensely, hmming and hahing over it for a moment. Then handing it back to Star, River raised his hands in acceptance.

"Works for me. But do try to be back before dinner. You know how your mother can be. And of course be careful." Handing the scissors over to a now bouncing Star, the girl nodded her head.

"Of course Daddy, I'll bring my trusty friend here." So saying Star pulled a large morning star out of seemingly nowhere from behind her back.

"HA HA that's my girl! Well you have fun. I need to go back and see that your mother remembers to eat sometime today."

Waving goodbye to her father, Star returned to her list of places to visit. Biting her lip she wrestled with her choice for the first place to visit. So without a care in the world she covered her eyes with one of her hands and proceeded to play eenie meenie minie moe in order to leave it to chance. Though in this case when the wind picked up and moved the paper just a tad, destiny might be more accurate. When Star opened her eyes, her finger had landed on the dimension of crystal. In particular a place known as the Jeweled Maw.

"Neat!"

Xxx

Walking through the portal, Star stood outside of an enormous cavern. From its upper lip hung a carpet of vines that dangled in such a way to form teeth. The wind whispered through the vines, a hollow, shrill sound that sent shivers up Star's spine. But rather than fear, it was her namesake that shone in Star's eyes.

"That. Is. So. Cool. Spooky cave, check, ancient family heirloom, check, chances that this place is rigged with booby traps and full of deadly creatures?" A shrieking sound that was most definitely not the wind emanated from the cavern.

"EEEEEH! Treasure Hunt! Treasure Hunt!" Chanting to herself Star charged headfirst into the unknown. Completely unaware of the shadowy figure following in her wake.

When Star entered the cave she found it full to the brim with lilac crystals. With the exception of a thin path leading further into the cave, the crystals ate up every inch of the walls, ceiling and floor. Hundreds of them, maybe even thousands, making a carpet of fangs.

Doing her best to stay on the small path, Star looked in awe at her surroundings. Moving through the cavern, the path seemed to get smaller and smaller.

'Or are the crystals getting bigger?'

Star narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the gemlike cave growths. Looking carefully at the crystals closest to the path, Star took a step forward. The moment her foot touched the ground the crystal indeed grew almost imperceptibly. If she hadn't been looking right at it then she wouldn't have noticed until she was walking on the stuff. Looking ahead Star could spot an exit, the crystals not appearing to spread any further into the cave.

Chewing on her morning star in thought, Star tried to gauge the distance. Thinking things through was never her strong suit though. With a shrug of her shoulders, Star booked it towards the exit. With every step the crystal grew more and more, inching ever closer to her feet. Eventually she was starting to run on more crystal than path. Their sharp edges were beginning to wreak havoc on her boots. The exit only a few yards away, the crystals began to jump in length. In a last ditch effort Star used her morning star to pole vault to the exit.

Flying through the air as the crystals moved to impale her, Star might have had second thoughts about this venture. And when one of the crystals caught the side of her leg, she was definitely wondering why she hadn't brought any armor. But all that doubt went right out the window when she landed past the exit with only a thin scratch on her leg to show for the peril she had just been in. Turning back to the crystal laden room, Star blew raspberries at the place.

"Hah! Showed you, you stupid booby trap!"

Doing a little victory dance, Star started towards what she thought was the next room. But it seemed the cave had taken offense to her earlier boasting, as with a sudden click, the ground fell out from under her. Unseen the single small crystal that had seen to Star's scratch drank the small drop of blood it had taken. Turning red, it and its fellows rescinded their earlier growths. A figure in a dark coat coming through not even a moment later, their feet never touching the ground. Looking into the hole, the person's lips cracked into a wry grin before he continued with tailing the princess.

Xxx

Plummeting downwards Star let loose a shocked scream. The tunnel she'd fallen into curved slightly, turning the drop into more of an extreme slide. Star's scream became one of excitement rather than terror. Exiting the tunnel to a much larger room, the slide continued to carry Star ever farther down. Taking in her surroundings, Star saw a tranquil river beneath her and glowing blue lichen clinging to the walls, illuminating the cave. When the slide finally leveled out, it dropped her off on a rock in the middle of the river. Ahead of her series of similar stones made a path leading farther down the river.

Humming a tune to herself Star made her way from stone to stone. This would continue without interruption for a while. When the river began to widen, Star was confronted with an issue. The path had diverged, and unfortunately not into just two paths but ten. Looking them over, a few of the paths seemed to stand out more than the others. On a few of the stones were large salamanders, easily bigger than any Star had ever seen. Around the size of a large dog, the creatures payed Star little mind. More than content to give a simple passing glance and return to their business.

Chewing on her weapon in contemplation, Star noticed a ripple in the water. Whatever it was spooked the salamanders as they all froze. For one unlucky soul this would be too late. A moment later and a massive, purple three clawed pincer speared out of the water, ensnaring a hapless amphibian. Its pained cries and thrashing were to no avail as the claw retreated back to the depths, its prey successfully captured. Star, with eyes as big as dinner plates, remained perfectly still. The claw alone had easily been as big as she was, who knows how big the rest of the creature might be.

The moment that the water stilled again the salamanders began to rush in, fleeing down one of the paths. Figuring that would be the best way to go as well, Star went to follow them. Or rather she would have if she hadn't noticed the little rabbit creature. On one of the paths farther away from the fleeing salamanders, a cream and green colored rabbit with great big ears, danced from rock to rock. Hopping from foot to foot and jumping between the stones, the little rabbit's ears would skim the water sending ripples out across the surface. Which served to attract the attention of whatever was lurking beneath, if the bubbles heading in its direction were any indication.

Star didn't even consider her next course of action, one moment she was noticing the impending doom of a precious bunny and the next she was moving to save it.

"Oh no you don't!" Leaping from stone to stone, occasionally skipping some in her haste, Star moved like a madwoman to rescue the bunny.

The bubbles were still ahead of her though, racing towards the rabbit who continue its little dance farther down the cavern. A sleepy little grin on its face as it continued on, ignorant of the danger it was in. Star had caught up with the bubbles at this point but the bunny was now within the reach of the claw. With its prey in range, the claw lunged out to snatch the little bunny. But Star was having none of that.

"HIYAH!" Steel met claw as Star's weapon came down in a great arc, smashing it away from the hapless bunny.

Even above the water, Star could hear the shriek of pain that her blow had elicited. The monster beneath was not going to just let such an attack go unanswered, nor was it willing to let its meal escape. A second claw came from the water and attempted to crush Star, its now wounded fellow continuing its bid to grab the rabbit. Star found herself hard pressed to both dodge the new claw and protect the bunny. The bunny on the other hand seemed blissfully unaware of its current predicament, moving from stone to stone down the path. And so it went, Star leaping from her own aggressive crustacean stalker to defend the irritatingly ignorant bunny, the bunny leading them further and further down the path and into the cave.

Eventually the whole debacle led Star to a shoreline, with an entryway that was just wide enough for her to get through. Apparently the river bed was beginning to shallow because the creature beneath was beginning to take shape. The closer they got to the shore line, the more of its form became visible until all three participants were on the sand itself. There the creature was revealed to be a monstrous lobster, that while primarily orange was a true rainbow of festive colors all transitioning into each other. Its full form revealed pushed Star to move even faster towards her exit. Scooping up the bunny as she passed, Star rushed towards their salvation. Blinking its little eyes up at the blond girl, the bunny smiled and snuggled closer. Even with a monster bigger than a carriage on her tail, Star couldn't help but coo over the cute little bunny.

The lobster seeing its prey about to escape, gave a deafening shriek. Opening its massive pincers, a ring of green fire appeared at its edges. Shrinking to the center, the flames coalesced into a burning orbs that was promptly sent screaming after Star. Glancing behind her at the noise, Star spotted the balls of burning death. Eyes growing to dinner plates, Star spun and slung her weapon at the incoming doom. Spinning end over end it collided with the spheres even as Star made it to the doorway. When the morning star hit the spheres, they exploded with enough force to send Star flying down the exit.

"TUCK AND ROLL!" Star's cry preceded her actions as she flew into a hallway, hitting the ground and rolling.

Holding the little bunny up, she cuddled it against her face.

"Who's a cute little danger magnet? You are!" The bunny smiled up at Star before hopping out he arms and making its way down the hall.

"Woah wait for me!" Star ran off, following the twirling bunny down the hall.

On the shoreline the lobster leaned in, gazing through the entryway as Star and the rabbit left. Turning around back to the waters, a bubbling noise spread from its mandibles. Its snickering was cut short however when it came face to face with a figure in a dark coat. The lobster's eyes grew wide for a moment before lighting up with joy, its whole body bouncing. The figure laughed at the creature's exuberance.

"I suppose it has been quite a while. It's good to see you too." Patting the lobster on its head, they continued on their way.

Xxx

Star and her new bunny friend kept following the hallway down deeper into the cave. The little bunny had continued its dance, twirling and hopping as it went and Star had taken to mimicking her new friend's moves. But eventually they reached a door and the dancing had to come to an end, as the oddity of seeing a door so deep in a cave dawned on Star.

"Who the heck puts a door in a cave?" Looking up at the blond girl, the bunny giggled at the look of confusion on her face as the wheels turned and her mind buffered, buffered ….. ding! There it was.

"Grandma Shy!"

Practically kicking down the door, Star's exuberance was full force even as she found herself in a very dimly lit room. The lichen had not followed them from the hallway and its light did not spread far inside.

"Dang it, I can't see anything. Where's the light in here?"

"Here you go." A silvery voice almost whispered, before the room was lit by an enormous chandelier overhead.

"Oh hey that's much better. Thanks, now I can ….." Eyes open wide Star turned around, looking for the speaker. But only the little bunny was present.

"Bunny?" Covering its little mouth with one of its ears, the bunny giggled at her guest's face.

"Yee~s? Though I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Luna, and I must say I am so glad to see you princess Butterfly. It's been so long since I have had any visitors and you have been an absolute treat my dear. Welcome to the private study of Celena the Shy." The bunny grinned as it twirled around with its ears held out in presentation.

Taking in her surroundings Star found herself in a three storied circular room. The two stories above had railed walkways with doors leading elsewhere. Where she was standing at ground level, the floor was well polished wood, furs and rugs scattered here and there. A desk with writing implements and a variety of jars held what looked like candy sat against a wall, and a fireplace to one side was surrounded by a rather comfy looking set of chairs and a table already set with hot tea and cookies.

Feeling something slip into her hand, Star looked down to see one of Luna's ears holding her hand. Being lead towards the fireplace and the comfy chairs, Star's brain caught up with the situation.

"Woah, woah, woah! Hold up! What's going on? I mean what is this place and what are you?"

Smiling up at the girl, Luna kept pulling them towards the fireplace.

"Dear, I already told you. This is Lady Celena's private study and my name is Luna. Now as for what I am, I am what's known as a –" A new voice cutoff the little rabbit, gravelly and with a bit of age.

"A Spirit. A type of dream eater that the original keybladers created in order to assist them with maintaining the balance of worlds and keeping the darkness in check." Turning around swiftly in response, Luna was quick to place herself in front of Star, her ears held wide to cover as much of the girl as she could.

The newcomer was a tall individual, wrapped in a dark coat with the hood pulled up. Given the white beard though it was safe to say he was a man. Star was completely lost now, but given Luna's reaction it was safe to say that whoever this was they weren't supposed to be here. The little rabbit looked to their intruder ready to pounce.

"Who are you and how did you get in here? What have you done with Sunny?" Star looked down to the rabbit.

"Sunny? Is there someone else down here?" The stranger answered before Luna could though.

"She means the big lobster back at the river. Still can't believe that's what Celena named the big guy; and I didn't do anything to him. Seriously Luna, I know it's been a while but have you forgotten me already? Give ya a hint." Holding his hands out to the side, a purple flash lit in each before revealing a pair of weapons almost resembling crossbows appeared. Each of them just the same color as the light that birthed them a moment ago.

Luna's breath hitched for a moment, looking at the weapons her ears dropped to floor. Eyes moving from the weapons to the strangers face, her lip quivered afraid to voice the question. The stranger reached up to his hood and let it fall back. The man was roguish looking, an eye patch covered one eye, with a nasty looking scar creeping up the cheek opposite it. Despite the white hair the man's face didn't appear all that aged. He certainly didn't look any older than Star's father. A glowing blue crystal hung around the man's neck.

He grinned at the little rabbit before letting his hands drop and the weapons disappear.

"So did you miss me Hop Along?" Holding back no more, Luna shot forward at the stranger and for a moment Star wondered if this was about to get messy. But was proven wrong when Luna ended up latching onto the man with her ears, holding tight and crying.

"MASTER BRAIG!" Sniffling into his coat Luna clung desperately to the man.

Using one hand to cradle the Spirit and the other to pat her on the head, Braig tried to calm her.

"Hey, hey, come on now this isn't exactly gonna make a good first impression on Celena's successor is it?"

"Daww, I have no idea what is going on. But that is so cute!" Star's comment, had Luna freezing like a deer in headlights. Creaking her ears free from the death hold they'd held on Braig a moment ago, Luna dropped to the ground. Her back to Star she wiped her eyes, before turning around and coughing into her hand. Braig's wolfish grin still shone with amusement at the whole ordeal. Her throat cleared Luna spoke up.

"Sorry about that dear. I just was overwhelmed for a moment there. I had thought Master Braig dead for nearly a hundred years now. Anyways, I'm afraid I haven't even given you the chance to introduce yourself." Picking up on the cue, Star went into princess mode for a moment giving a small curtsy. Moment passed miss bubbly incarnate came back to the fore.

"Hi there, I'm Star Butterfly! I'm here looking for something my Great, Great Grandma Shy used to own. Any chance one of you knows where a big key is? Kinda flowery, supposed to take you to places no one's ever seen before? Ring any bells?" Braig and Luna looked to each other for a moment, a knowing look passing between them. Luna looked back to Star, and walked her towards the fireplace again.

Sitting Star down in one of the chairs, Luna made a cup of tea for the princess. Braig following behind sat in the chair opposite, ignoring the sour look Luna gave him as he sat in her chair. In fact it may have only further amused him further if the gleam in his eye was any indication. Making herself and Braig a cup as well, Luna stood there, a cup on each ear and her little hands on her hips.

"Ahem?" Braig laughed to himself before waving his hand in the air. The cups raised out of Luna's hands before she herself was lifted into Braig's lap. Much to her chagrin.

"Hey! I am not a doll!" Braig brought the cups to himself and Luna, taking a sip for himself. He looked down to the peeved rabbit before patting her on the head. Laughing at her aggravation.

"Come on now, there's only two chairs and I figured you'd rather sit in my lap than me sit in yours. Besides, if I remember you never seemed to mind before. Anyways, Star right? Let's take a look at you." Braig gave Star a once over looking at her closely. Taking the blatant stare as a challenge, Star stared back even harder. Noticing, Braig raised an eyebrow and stared back even harder with his one eye. Widening their eyes the two would keep this up until they broke out laughing, Luna shaking her head at Braig.

"Hahaha, yes! Someone who gets humor! Celena hardly ever laughed at my antics!" Luna snorted and looked up at the man.

"That's because you just think you're funny." Braig mumbled something about party poopers and looked back to Star.

"I can definitely see a lot of Celena in the face but if I had to guess you got a lot from your family outside the Butterfly's. If I recall that would be your Dad's side right? Butterfly's a family name that passes down from your mom. But those eyes, those are definitely from further back. I remember seeing blue eyes that sharp, there's a fierceness in them that they both had. Maybe not the cold streak he had but I'm getting sidetracked. You wanted to know about the keyblade right? The big key of Celena's?" Star had so many more questions at this point but she had to start somewhere.

"Right! So like a week ago, I woke up out of nowhere and I was pumped! I mean like I'd just sent a whole bunch of monster crying home to mommy pumped! But then the next day, I keep feeling like I need to find something. Like I'd lost something important. So I started looking all over seeing if I could jog my memory, when I saw my Mom's wand." Braig had reached for a cookie at this point, slowly nodding as the princess continued her story at break neck speed with no concern whatsoever for the bodies necessity for oxygen.

"It wasn't what I was looking for though, but it felt so close. Soooo I started looking through books for stuff on the queens, not really reading but like flipping through the pages and then I saw IT! The key in Grandma Shy's tapestry that she was looking at, but the only other person that could see it was Glossaryck. He said something about being trouble, but it feels like I'm always in trouble. Anyways he also said that I was only able to see the key because I needed it, cuz apparently Grandma Shy put a curse on it." Luna was beginning to be concerned as the girl's lips turned blue.

"Which is super bad because curses are some dark stuff, I would never have guessed Grandma Shy did dark magic. But anyways, I figured if I needed it than Glossaryck would help me find it. Cuz if you tell someone they need something and make it sound all purposely vague and spooky then you should totally help them find it right? Well apparently he doesn't think so. So I had to go back to the library and dig up all this stuff on Grandma Shy to figure out where all she'd been and then I ran into Heckapoo who actually helped me! I picked a place to visit and here I am talking to an old man and a talking rabbit, and is anyone else feeling lightheaded?" Braig laughed uproariously, while Luna looked at Star with panic. Her light voice snapping out.

"Breath, Star!" The princess leaned her head back into the chair and let her lungs do their work. Luna shook her head and swatted Braig's shoulder, the man having to put his tea on the table as he still shook with laughter. Luna spoke up since Braig wanted to be a child.

"Well it sounds like you've been very busy dear. So let's start things off, as I'm sure you have a bunch of questions for us. Now as Master Braig has already explained what I am, allow me to explain who I am. Master Braig helped Celena create me to assist her as she traveled to worlds inaccessible to anyone else from her world. When Lady Celena decided to leave behind her adventuring amongst those worlds she left me here to protect what she had collected and written down. Including the key that you seek. That particular item is known as a keyblade, and it was through its power that Celena was able to see these far off worlds." Star nodded to let Luna know she was listening, still trying to catch her breath as she was.

"If Celena's spell is calling out to you then something has entered this world. Something from outside; nothing should be able to enter this world. Not after Lady Celena locked it with the keyblade. Which means that we need to get you ready for whatever you need to fight." Star at this point was looking intently at Luna nodding along, but Braig spoke up.

"Easy there Luna, it's not what you think. It woke me up too, that feeling that Star described. Though not for the same reason. It's something I've been looking for; for a very long time. The good news is that if we can find it then we'll have one of the one of the most powerful weapons to ever exist on our side. The bad news is that there are others looking for it, and they'll have felt it too. So you'll need to get a crash course on how to use a keyblade. I'm not much of one for a blade but I'm betting you know a thing or too." The shining smile that Star gave was more than enough of an answer, as Braig carried on.

"Good, I figured as much after having seen you back there against Sunny. But you'll still need to learn how to use the magic in the keyblade. It came easily to Celena but I think she struggled with the more structured form of magic. Something you'll have to get used to." Star raised her hand wiggling it back and forth, Braig raised a brow.

"Yes?"

"So I have a gazillion questions. Who are you? How old are you? Cuz it sounds like you knew Grandma Shy. What about my eyes? Did you know another Butterfly? What's everyone so scared of? I mean you make it sound like something is coming to get us. Is it why Grandma Shy hid the key?"

Braig leaned back in the chair chuckling, his eyes glazing over in remembrance. Closing his eyes for a moment, Braig heaved a sigh before looking back to the princess.

"That's a lot of questions there missy. Well let's go down the list shall we. My name is Braig Centurio. I'm over a thousand years old. Your eyes well, let's just say that I knew the two that your family got them from. Seemed a lot of talented keybladers back then had blue eyes now that I think about it, HAH! But those two; theirs weren't that naïve royal blue. They weren't Butterflys back then, just a young man from the islands and a girl gifted with an innate sense for magic. Celena's keyblade was actually a keepsake of that girl's, the keyblade of a fallen friend. Your eyes definitely take after her more than him but I saw bits of him in you. Those looks of defiance and the thrill of victory back in the cave. But I'm getting sentimental here, you asked what everyone was so scared of? Why Celena closed off your world and stopped going on adventures." Star scooted forward, completely enthralled in what she was being told so far.

"Well that's partly my problem. You see I tried to keep Celena away from certain worlds, but I didn't tell her why. There are worlds out there; ruled by an Empire, and the people at the top are just as old as I am. Several are far stronger than me too. But Celena didn't know that, she just knew I was keeping secrets from her. When she went looking for them, she got in over her head faster than she could handle. I stepped in and managed to get her out, but by then it had gotten out of hand. I'd gone over with her before what she would need to do should the worst happen. Looks like she took my advice. I barely made it out of that scrap, pretty much just been sleeping it off for the past hundred or so years." Following along so far, Star had an eager look in her eyes. She asked another question before Braig could go any further.

"So we're gonna kick their butts?" Braig's face lost any sense of joviality. With his one good eye he made sure that Star knew he wasn't joking when he spoke next.

"Star when we get to the point that you are out there amongst the worlds, you have to promise me that if you get the attention of anyone from the Celestial Empire; you'll run. If they catch you, you'll only have one choice; work for them. Because any other option will end with either your death, or the death and enslavement of everyone you've ever known."

Gulping to herself Star was beginning to finally question what she'd gotten herself into.

 **A/N: So yeah I'm a day late. I've been sick for the past week or so and I'm not getting much better. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter ready next Friday but I can't promise that I'm afraid. So a lot of hints dropped in this chapter. I have put a great deal of work into the history of this setting so there's a lot to cover. Heckapoo isn't exactly fond of the keyblade, or rather she doesn't appreciate the fact that it can go to places she can't. Braig is an interesting character who's lived a very long time. Most of it without any master but himself. To give you an idea of what all I've got down, the timeline on my profile is a little over 3,000 words long. That still leaves another 9,000 left of what I've written so there's plenty for y'all to see. Cookies to those that can guess who Star's ancestors are. Up next we're skipping ahead. Marco and Star will both have some experience under their belts and we'll get to see their first meeting. Marco will have saved a number of worlds during that time but it probably won't be any that many people will recognize or be too sorry were crossed off the list without a chapter dedicated to them. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. See you soon!**


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